Michael A. Taylor homered for the second consecutive game and left-hander Bailey Falter excelled in his return from the injured list as the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 on Tuesday.

Taylor, whose three-run home run in the ninth inning lifted the Pirates to victory in the series opener, chased Astros starter Hunter Brown (9-7) with a two-run, two-out blast in the sixth. Taylor launched a 2-1 sinker 403 feet for his fourth homer of the season and extended Pittsburgh's lead to 5-1.

Falter (5-7) made his first start since left triceps tendinitis sent him to the 15-day IL on July 7. He retired the side in order in the first, worked around two singles in the second, and sidestepped a one-out single from Jose Altuve to conclude three scoreless innings with relative ease.

Falter lost his shutout bid when Astros catcher Yainer Diaz drilled his 10th home run of the season leading off the fourth. Falter responded by striking out Jeremy Pena and Jake Meyers. In the fifth, Falter induced Altuve to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Yordan Alvarez chased Falter with a one-out single in the sixth, and Alvarez later scored on Pena's fielder's choice grounder against reliever Dennis Santana. Falter allowed two runs (one earned) on six hits with three strikeouts. He threw just 66 pitches over 5 1/3 innings.

Brown had his streak of 12 consecutive starts of six-plus innings snapped after allowing five runs (four earned) on nine hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. He surrendered back-to-back singles to Ke'Bryan Hayes and Connor Joe leading off the second, with Hayes later scoring when Jared Triolo rolled into a double play.

Brown aided the Pirates' two-run fourth inning with a throwing error after fielding a swinging bunt from Joe. His errant throw eluded first baseman Jon Singleton and allowed Joey Bart to score from first.

Joe, who went 3-for-4, scored on Triolo's double to the left field corner for a 3-1 lead.

Andrew McCutchen added a bases-loaded walk against Astros reliever Seth Martinez in the eighth. The Astros committed three errors resulting in two unearned runs.

--Field Level Media