Astros shut out Pirates behind Alex Bregman's 3-run homer to win series

Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Dauri Moreta had lived up to his “Big Bank” nickname by not allowing an earned run and giving up only one hit with eight strikeouts through his first five appearances.

When Moreta gave up a single and a walk in the seventh inning against the Houston Astros, the Pirates paid him a mound visit.

Then Alex Bregman cashed in by depositing a three-run homer to the left-field bleachers to lift the Astros to a 7-0 win over the Pirates to clinch a series victory Wednesday afternoon before 10,064 at PNC Park.

The matinee was the Pirates’ first shutout loss of the season and followed their most exciting win, when Ji Hwan Bae delivered a three-run homer for a 7-4 walk-off win Tuesday night. Manager Derek Shelton was pleased with how the Pirates performed against the World Series champion Astros after losing shortstop Oneil Cruz to a fractured left ankle Sunday.

“I think we did a good job. We played the defending world champions, and we saw their three best pitchers,” Shelton said. “We’re in a situation (Tuesday) night where we had to come back and win, but we were ahead, and (Wednesday) we played well for six innings and just didn’t pitch well at the end of the game to give ourselves a chance.”

After splitting their six-game homestand, the Pirates (7-5) begin a seven-day road trip Thursday against a pair of last-place teams, with four games at NL Central rival St. Louis followed by three at Colorado.

It was the second consecutive game with a home run for Bregman, who turned the boos from the first two games of the series into cheers from Astros fans by driving Moreta’s 2-0 fastball down the middle 395 feet.

Astros starter Jose Urquidy (1-0) mixed a curveball, changeup and four-seam fastball to hold the Pirates to two hits over six scoreless innings, and the bullpen preserved the shutout.

“He threw great,” Pirates first baseman Carlos Santana said. “He throws a lot of strikes. He’s aggressive early in the count. He threw well.”

The Pirates got a quality start from lefty Rich Hill (0-2), who was effective in balancing his cutter, curveball and four-seam fastball despite not recording a strikeout in six innings.

The Astros took a 1-0 lead when Chas McCormick led off the third with a single to center, stole second base, advanced to third on Kyle Tucker’s groundout to second and scored when Jose Abreu doubled to the North Side Notch.

Hill also had to deal with an extended delay in action before the fourth inning, as home plate umpire Jerry Layne left the game after taking a foul ball off the hand and Brock Ballou moved from first base to behind the plate. Nick Mahrley switched from second to first, leaving the umpire crew a man short.

Hill said it had no effect on him, as he got through the fourth on 18 pitches and the fifth on eight. After Hill got Jeremy Pena to line out to center, Astros rookie Corey Julks sent a belt-high 0-1 cutter 405 feet to left-center for his first career home run and a 2-0 lead.

The Pirates blew a scoring chance in the fourth inning, when Santana hit a one-out double to right and Ke’Bryan Hayes drew a walk to put runners on first and second. Connor Joe grounded into a forceout at second, then was caught stealing to end the inning with Jack Suwinski at the plate.

“That was with two outs and two strikes, so I don’t think it had any effect on us,” Shelton said. “We took a chance there, and it didn’t work out.”

The risk backfired when Suwinski singled to right to start the fifth, but Mark Mathias grounded into a double play. Hill held the Astros to two runs on five hits and two walks through the first six innings, keeping the Pirates in the game.

“Obviously that’s a tough lineup, one to nine,” Hill said. “Coming out of it with a quality start and making pitches the entire game. We played them tough the first six innings. Their bats broke out the later part of the game.”

Bregman’s homer gave the Astros a 5-0 advantage. They added to their lead against Chase De Jong in the eighth when Julks hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on Mauricio Dubon’s single to center and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Yaimer Diaz to make it 6-0. De Jong walked Bregman to load the bases with one out for Tucker, who drove in Dubon with a sacrifice fly to right for a 7-0 lead.

The Pirates had runners on the corners again in the eighth after Bae drew a two-out walk and Bryan Reynolds singled to center, but Bryan Abreu got McCutchen swinging for a strikeout to escape unscathed.

The Astros also made several strong defensive plays to prevent Pirates hits. McCormick made a diving catch on a Hayes flare to center in the second, Julks robbed Bae in the sixth by making a tumbling catch in left and Bregman snared a Hayes liner in the seventh.

“They’re good. They’re really good,” Shelton said. “They defend. They hit. They’re deep. I mean one of the best players in baseball didn’t play in the lineup in (Yordan) Alvarez and their starting pitching is legit. Again, that’s why you win World Series.”