Pirates 6, Astros 2
Andrew McCutchen went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and Wandy Rodriguez pitched seven shutout innings to stymie his former club as host Pittsburgh snapped a four-game losing skid.
Rookie Brock Holt also had four hits in his third major-league start as the Pirates won for the just the eighth time in their last 25 games in a game that was delayed an hour and 15 minutes at the start due to rain.
Rodriguez (10-13) struck out seven and allowed just four hits and one walk while improving to 3-4 since Pittsburgh acquired him from the Astros in late July.
Houston has lost 17 of 21 games and hasn’t won back-to-back contests since beating the Milwaukee Brewers on August 10-11.
McCutchen stroked a double down the left-field line in the first off Jordan Lyles (3-11) to get Pittsburgh started. McCutchen and Garrett Jones had run-scoring singles in the third to make it 3-0.
McCutchen drove in another run with a fifth-inning single and two runs scored later in the inning when Tyler Greene dropped Pedro Alvarez’s pop-up as third baseman Brandon Laird bumped into him.
Brett Wallace had a run-scoring double and Chris Snyder drove him in with a pinch single for Houston’s two runs.
Lyles allowed five runs (four earned) and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: McCutchen leads the majors with six games four-hit games. … Astros OF Justin Maxwell went 0-for-2 and is batting just .103 (4-for-39) over his last 16 games. … Pirates OF Travis Snider left after one inning due to hamstring soreness. … Laird was playing in his first game with Houston after being claimed off waivers from the New York Yankees. He went 1-for-3. … Alvarez was named National League Player of the Week after batting .458 with four homers.