Kai-Wei Teng gave the Astros exactly what they needed Thursday night until one inning changed the game.
Jared Jones and Carmen Mlodzinski combined to hold Houston to one run on eight hits, and the Pittsburgh Pirates took the series with a 5-1 win at Daikin Park. The Astros dropped to 28-36 and finished 2-4 on their current homestand.
Teng looked in control for most of his outing. He retired 10 of the first 12 hitters he faced and carried a scoreless game into the sixth before Pittsburgh finally broke through. Brandon Lowe opened the inning with a double, Bryan Reynolds followed with an RBI single, and Ryan O’Hearn jumped on a first-pitch fastball and drove it over the right-field wall for a two-run homer that stretched the lead to 4-0. A broken-bat single by Nick Gonzales ended Teng’s night.
“I would say my stuff was there, I just missed some of my spots and I couldn’t really locate my pitches,” Teng said through an interpreter. “I gave up two hits and they were both on broken bats, so I believe my stuff was there. But I just had some misses that inning.”
Houston never found an answer against Jones, who was making his second start since returning from elbow surgery and working under a pitch limit. The right-hander threw five scoreless innings, striking out four and walking two while averaging 99 mph with his fastball and touching 101. The Astros went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position against him.
“Jones just really leaned back and started throwing the ball and executing all his pitches down in the zone,” manager Joe Espada said. “We chased and we couldn’t do much. Just a really good arm.”
The Astros introduced two new faces in the lineup. LaMonte Wade Jr., signed earlier in the day, started in left field and went hitless in four at-bats. Catcher Collin Price made his major-league debut and drew a walk in his first plate appearance before finishing 0-for-3.
A Jeremy Peña error later in the sixth allowed another run to score and pushed Pittsburgh’s lead to 5-0 before Isaac Paredes finally got Houston on the board in the bottom half with a solo homer—the 100th of his major-league career.
Steven Okert worked two scoreless innings in relief, Enyel De Los Santos handled the eighth, and Bryan Abreu struck out two in a clean ninth. Before first pitch, Jose Altuve took live batting practice at Daikin Park for a second straight day, and Espada said Altuve is in a “good spot” with a “possibility we see him this weekend” against Oakland.
Houston opens a three-game series Friday night against the Athletics with Peter Lambert scheduled to face Jack Perkins.
Heading to Daikin Park soon? Check the Astros promotions schedule before your next game.
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