Astros take advantage of Roansy Contreras' control issues to pound Pirates

A day after losing Oneil Cruz to an injury expected to keep the shortstop out four months, the Pittsburgh Pirates knew their resolve would be tested by a visit from the World Series champions.

The Houston Astros took advantage of Cruz’s absence and Roansy Contreras’ control issues to beat the Pirates, 8-2, on Monday night before 10,222 at PNC Park.

“We’re definitely going to miss Oneil,” said Rodolfo Castro, who started at shortstop. “We’re missing a part of our heart. Our heart dropped when he got hurt, but it’s part of the game. We don’t ever want to get hurt, but it’s part of the game. We just have to go out there and compete and do our best every day.”

After winning six of their first nine, including five of their past six, the Pirates (6-4) suffered their second lopsided loss of the season as Contreras (1-1) surrendered seven runs on nine hits and four walks with three strikeouts on 83 pitches, with only 44 going for strikes.

Where the Pirates’ top of the order — Ke’Bryan Hayes, Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen — went 0 for 11 with a walk and two strikeouts, the Astros got five hits, five walks, three RBIs and four runs from Chas McCormick, Alex Bregman and Yordan Alvarez.

The Pirates were deflated by the loss of Cruz, who underwent surgery late Sunday night on a left ankle that was fractured on an awkward slide and home plate collision with catcher Seby Zavala in the sixth inning of a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox.

With Castro at shortstop, the Pirates started the right-handed hitting Mark Mathias at second base. Acquired from the Texas Rangers in March, Mathias was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis when Cruz was placed on the 10-day injured list.

Castro reached safely three times, as he was hit by a pitch, singled to right and drew a walk. He had a fielding error on a routine grounder by Corey Julks in the fourth inning but turned an unassisted double play on Kyle Tucker’s line drive with the bases loaded for the final out in the seventh.

“He played fine. The error was just he lost the ball on the transfer. … Other than that, I think he did a nice job,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said of Castro. “He had three or four hard-hit line drives at him. The other ground ball he did a nice job on. It was just the one he dropped, he dropped it on the exchange.”

Mathias, who went 0 for 3, made a backhand stop up the middle to throw Jeremy Pena out in the third but had a Tucker liner glance off his glove for a two-run single with the infield in during the fourth.

Contreras struck out McCormick, then walked Bregman on four pitches and hit Alvarez with the first pitch, prompting a mound visit in the first inning. Tucker’s two-out single to left drove in Bregman for a 1-0 Astros lead, but the relay throw skipped past Hayes, who ran to the dugout to retrieve the ball then threw to Castro covering third to get a sliding Alvarez for the third out.

Contreras’ struggles continued in a 30-pitch second, when he gave up a leadoff double to Jeremy Pena and an RBI single to Mauricio Dubon for a 2-0 lead. After Contreras walked both Martin Maldonado and Bregman on four pitches, Yordan Alvarez followed with a two-run single to left field to give the Astros a 4-0 advantage.

“The biggest thing was I did not have the fastball command like I wanted to. That was the result of it,” Contreras said. “I know that’s a good lineup, but I know I need to execute pitches.”

Astros lefty Framber Valdez, by contrast, allowed two runs on three hits and five walks with five strikeouts in seven innings. Valdez cruised through a seven-pitch first inning before designated hitter Ji-Man Choi crushed a full-count curveball 407 feet into the bullpen in left-center in the second inning to cut it to 4-1.

It was Choi’s first home run as a Pirate, after a 1-for-19 start with eight strikeouts in his first six games, and his fifth career homer against a left-handed pitcher. His last homer against a lefty came while batting righty on July 26, 2020, and he hadn’t gone deep against a left-hander while batting from the left side since Sept. 11, 2019 at Texas.

“It means a lot to me because I don’t get a lot of chances against left-handed pitchers,” Choi said through translator Daniel Park. “So, I definitely feel great after that homer.”

Houston tacked on another run in the third, when Maldonado hit a sharp single to left to drive in Julks for a 5-1 lead. Connor Joe’s throw to the plate was off the mark, and the Astros had runners on second and third when Contreras struck out McCormick to end the frame.

When Tucker slapped a two-run single to score Bregman and Alvarez in the fourth for a 7-1 lead, the Pirates turned to righty reliever Wil Crowe.

“It didn’t look like he was in his delivery very well,” Shelton said of Contreras. “I mean, he was battling it the whole game, and because of it, he scattered the ball, and if you scatter the ball against this team and then you come back to the middle of the plate, there is going to be damage.”

Castro made the error on Julks’ grounder to short, failing to gather the ball after he scooped it into his glove. That put runners on first and third for Crowe, who got Dubon to line out to right.

The Pirates cut it to 7-2 in the fourth, when when Carlos Santana doubled off the bottom of the left-field wall and scored on Castro’s single to right.

The Astros increased their lead to 8-2 in the seventh, when McCormick doubled off lefty Jose Hernandez and scored on Bregman’s single to center. Hernandez gave up a double to Alvarez and intentionally walked Jose Abreu to load the bases but Tucker lined to Castro for a double play.

“I think Framber pitched really well, executed pitches and we got down early,” Shelton said. “And you get down early against one of the best pitchers in baseball, it’s a big challenge.”