Michael Taylor homered for the second game in a row, and Bailey Falter had a solid return to the rotation, allowing only one run into the sixth inning as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Houston Astros 6-2 on Tuesday night.
Taylor hit a 403-foot, two-run homer off Astros starter Hunter Brown (9-7) in the sixth inning. Taylor also hit a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning on Monday night during the Pirates’ 5-3 win. This was Taylor’s fourth homer of the season and the first time the 33-year-old outfielder has hit homers in back-to-back games since August with Minnesota.
“He’s swinging the bat aggressively and it looks like he has confidence,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “I know tonight, it’s big swings, but the last two weeks, he’s had really consistent at-bats.”
Falter (5-7), making his first start since July 6 due to triceps tendonitis, kept the Astros under control, throwing 47 of his 66 pitches for strikes. The 27-year-old left-hander gave up six hits and one run with three strikeouts and no walks in 5 1/3 innings.
“I feel like I’m a pretty good strike-thrower, and usually, I have some bad tendencies when I walk guys, they’re going to score like 99% of the time,” Falter said. “So, that was my big thing tonight, no walks and first-ball strikes.”
Astros catcher Yainer Diaz hit a solo homer off Falter in the fourth inning, his 10th homer and 58th RBI of the season.
Brown was taken out of the game after Taylor’s homer, falling just short of his 13th straight start of six innings or more. He allowed five runs, four earned, with eight strikeouts and two walks.
“That one stung a little bit,” Brown said. “I felt, personally, like I made some really big mistakes tonight. That put us in a hole tonight, and it definitely doesn’t feel good.”
The Pirates scored first in the second inning on a fielder’s choice. In the fourth inning, Brown made a two-out throwing error on a weak grounder from Connor Joe, which allowed Joey Bart to score. The next batter, Jared Triolo, doubled to score Joe and give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead.
