Brett Myers dominated through 7 2/3 innings and Jeff Keppinger homered and drove in three runs to lead the Houston Astros to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday.
Hunter Pence added two hits and scored a pair of runs for the Astros, who have won all seven meetings with the Pirates this season.
Myers (7-6), whose name has been bandied about in trade rumors recently, has pitched at least six innings in each of his 19 starts this season - the only pitcher in the majors to do so. The veteran right-hander yielded just five hits and two runs while walking one and striking out four.
Keppinger got the Astros started with an RBI groundout in the first and added a solo homer off D.J. Carrasco in the sixth - his fourth of the season - that pushed Houston’s lead to 3-1. The Astros got another run in the sixth and added one more in the seventh when Keppinger struck again, doubling home Jason Bourgeois.
Matt Lindstrom worked a perfect ninth for his 22nd save of the campaign.
Zach Duke (3-9) suffered the loss for Pittsburgh, allowing two runs on five hits in five innings. The left-hander, who had missed the past month with a strained elbow, was limited to just 79 pitches after being activated from the disabled list prior to the game.
Houston | Pittsburgh | |
Brett Myers | Player | Zach Duke |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.2 | IP | 5.0 |
4 | Strikeouts | 5 |
5 | Hits | 5 |
2.35 | ERA | 3.60 |
Houston | Pittsburgh | |
Hunter Pence | Player | Andrew McCutchen |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 3 |
.667 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Houston | 8 | 1 | 13 | .242 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Pittsburgh | 6 | 0 | 8 | .194 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |