WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rain cut short Houston’s opportunity for a late rally Saturday afternoon, as the Astros fell 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a game called after 6½ innings at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches.
Mike Burrows turned in a strong outing against his former organization, but bullpen trouble and defensive miscues ultimately swung the result.
Burrows Sharp Against Former Club
Making his second Grapefruit League appearance, Burrows faced the Pirates, the club that drafted and developed him before trading him to Houston in December.
The 26-year-old right-hander worked three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four: Oneil Cruz, Marcell Ozuna (twice), and Rafael Flores Jr. He retired the side in order in both the first and third innings.
Burrows’ line: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K.
Combined with his two scoreless innings against St. Louis on February 22, Burrows has opened spring with five consecutive shutout frames.
Pittsburgh starter Braxton Ashcraft matched him with three scoreless innings of his own. Houston managed just two hits against Ashcraft: singles by Brice Matthews and Cam Smith.
Paredes Homers in Debut
The Astros broke through in the fourth. After Carlos Correa and Christian Walker drew walks and Smith lined a single to load the bases, Matthews delivered an RBI single to score Correa and give Houston a 1-0 lead.
Isaac Paredes, making his first spring training appearance of 2026, delivered the Astros’ other run in the fifth inning with a solo home run to left-center field, cutting Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-2.
Houston finished with five hits and struck out nine times.
Bullpen Falters
Roddery Muñoz followed Burrows with a clean fourth inning, striking out two and showing improvement after a rough first outing earlier in camp.
Jayden Murray was not as fortunate. After a walk and a single in the fifth, Cruz launched a three-run homer to right field to flip the game, giving Pittsburgh a 3-1 advantage.
Murray’s line: 1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR.
The Pirates added two more runs in the sixth against Michael Knorr, aided by two throwing errors from shortstop Jeremy Peña. Nick Yorke reached on Peña’s first error and later scored, and another miscue allowed additional traffic that led to Pittsburgh’s fifth run.
Houston committed two errors in a game where fundamentals again proved costly.
Rain Ends It Early
With the Astros trailing 5-2, rain arrived before the bottom of the sixth inning could be completed. After a delay, the game was called.
The loss drops Houston to 1-5-2 in Grapefruit League play. The Astros have now scored three runs or fewer in seven of eight spring games.
The Astros return to action Saturday against the New York Mets at Clover Park. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m. CT with Jason Alexander starting for the Astros. Full spring training schedule details are available here.