Pirates Victorious in Wandy Rodriguez’s Debut

Making his Pittsburgh Pirates debut, left hander Wandy Rodriguez helped his new team defeat his old team on Saturday night. Rodriguez sent the Astros to their 12th straight loss by giving up three runs in six innings striking out five hitters. However, Rodriguez seemed to be a little nervous facing his old teammates as he walked five batters. The most he had in 36 starts.

Alex Presley and Neil Walker each hit solo home runs in the victory. This set a club record of 18 straight road games with a home run and a National League leading 71 home runs on the road. The game was tied at three until the eighth inning when Rod Barajas stepped to the plate delivering with the game winning  rbi single.

Barajas single was the Pirates’ first in 18 at-bats with men in scoring position in the first three games of this series, in which the Bucs have scored a total of 15 runs. In an alarming stat the Pirates over their last nine games, are batting .128 (6-for-47) with runners in scoring position.

It became a bullpen battle after the sixth inning with the Pirates bullpen doing excellent work again. Chris Resop picked up his first win of the season. After a scoreless inning from Brad Lincoln, it was Jason Grilli picking up his second save of the season.

The 2012 Pirates have accomplished something that hasn’t been done since the 1991 Pirates. With three games left to be played in July the Pirates sit at 15-7 clinching their third consecutive winning month.