Astros vs. Pirates Game Highlights (6/5/25) | MLB Highlights

We've had some heavy storms, brief storms, but then we've had a steady rain since, but Brown's crew are going to get this field ready and play ball here again at 10 o'clock. This is about, I don't know, 20 minutes ago. Joe Espada, the manager of the Astros, Don Kelly, the Pirate Skipper, the umpires gathered around home plate. They started discussing things. This starts to get a little heated. Dana Brown, the GM, is starting to talk about, I guess, the weather, and it looks as though he thinks they maybe shouldn't play. They fly to Cleveland tonight. They play the Guardians, and that is interesting. I've never seen a discussion like that get so heated. The decision was by the umpires that we're going to go ahead and play this. It's not raining enough to affect anything. Mitch Keller's second career start against the Astros, pitched well against them here at PNC Park two years ago. He has gone six or more innings in nine of his 12 starts this season. Astros have their leadoff hitter, Jeremy Pena, on a heater lately. That ball's hit well to left field. Pham coming on. It gets by Pham as he knocks it down partially. That'll allow the ball not to get to the wall. Could have been three had it gotten all the way to the wall. Pham tried to make a sliding catch. Instead, Pena has a double now in an 11-game hitting streak. Now, Isak Peraitis will bat. Swing and a pop-up in the infield. Keller points to the sky to let the four infielders know where the ball is and it'll be kinder for them to make the catch one out. I'll say up to Vey. Swing and a little poke out to left field. Pham backtracking near the warning track. He'll make the catch. And Pena advances to third on what ended up to be a deep fly ball to left. Two men are out and Christian Walker will come up. Oh, struck him out with a sweeper. Just going to say he hit the sweeper down the middle. Not going to hit that one. Schemes in. Not that one. Good work, Mitch Keller. There is the franchise on top of the mound for the Astros here as we work to get out of the city of Pittsburgh for the first time this week. 12 starts, 3.12s at ERA. That ground ball percentage continues to rise, getting closer to 60% where he's more comfortable. O'Neal Cruz set to lead things off. And he'll get him again on the curve ball. Four for four with that pitch against Cruz, getting him to strike out all four times. Cromber will face eight righties in a row, beginning with Andrew McCutchen. Got him. Nobody strikes out more batters with a curve ball than Cromber Valdez. That's now 48, including the first two of this game. Here's Brian Reynolds. He strikes out this side with a curve ball for all three strikeouts. Cromber off and racing. Cromber Valdez locked in early. Well, he's faced four batters and he has struck out four batters. Pirates haven't put the ball against Valdez. Well, he's in there ready to hit. In the air to right, coming on Cam Smith, and he will make a running catch throughout number two. That's the first ball put in play by the Pirates. Brian Hayes lines out to right. Bring up Tommy Vance. Oh my. That will help the hitter. That was called ball four. Wow. Okay. Now Cromber's really agitated. That'll bring up Henry Davis, right-handed hitting catcher. Runner goes. That's a call third strike. Cromber picks up strikeout number five to end the second inning. One away now for Dubon. There's a big test for Keller. Dubon four for seven lifetime against Keller. Fly ball hit deep to left, approaching the wall, and he's got some room. Thought the wall was closer than it was, but Pham makes the catch. Still had a couple of strides. That ball kept carrying on him. A one-two on Jeremy Pena. Swing and a ball hit off the end of the bat toward right. Reynolds is there. Makes the catch, and the inning is through. Keller just 25 pitches through three innings. We'll go to the bottom half. Here's Jared Triolo leading it off. He swings and ropes one to the left field corner, and this is a fair ball bounding off the wall, and Triolo with eight days of rust plus three hours of a rain delay doubles in his first swing since. He couldn't wait to get back in there. So on second base for Kiner Falefa, their ninth place hitter, their shortstop. Falefa grounds one toward short. This will have the same result as if he bunted. Now the infield will come up with a man at third and one out for O'Neal Cruz. Swing and a bouncer back over the mound. Backhanded in the throw to first gets Cruz, but he gets the run in. Putting the ball in play, and the Pirates are up one to nothing RBI for Cruz. Yep, that's a big play right there. Now 2-2 count to McCutchen, and down goes Andrew for the second time tonight. That's a half dozen strikeouts for Framberg through three, but the Pirates on the board first. It's one nothing. He's sucked down a two for 31 punt. The worst stretch he's had as an Astro. He has seen that OPS drop 81 points. That'll improve the OPS. Deep, tall one with a long home run to left. He sucked that one out of here. Hanging sweepers smashed. That will definitely help put the OPS moving in the right direction. Here's Christian Walker. Now Christian Walker with a clean single in the left field past the diving K'Brien Hayes. So Walker a one out base runner for the Astros after Eastside Parade has tied it up. Walk to Jake Myers, so the Astros have a couple of hits and a walk in the inning. And now first and second with two outs for Cam Smith. Up the middle, throw in the center field. Walker being waved around. O'Neal Cruz going to third, and everybody's safe at the two to one Astros lead. Cam Smith with the RBI single, and that snaps an 0 for 15 for Cam. So Smith swipes his third bag, puts two runners in scoring position. See if Jacob Melton can come up with a big two out hit here to score a couple. Nine drive bases to left field. Two runs are going to score. Jacob Melton with his first two RBI's is a big leaguer, and the Astros lead four to one. Pretty bad by Jacob Melton. Two men out. Triolo doubled down the line and left and scored. How about Triolo two for two. It's a curveball. It's a really hard ball. Few have done that tonight. Need to chip away. And Keiner Falefa registers his first hit. Charged by Smith the right fielder. That'll hold Triolo to second. Good play by the rookie out there and right. Two run with two away for Cruz. Cruz with the lone RBI for the Pirates so far. And a base hit to right field. Ribello will certainly wave home. Triolo will score without a play. That's a huge two out hit, and it's four two. Exactly what we needed. Now you start getting a little enthusiasm back in that dugout. Got another run off one of the best pitchers around. No runner in scoring position for Jeremy Pena who bats for a fourth time. Hit hard in the right center field. That ball is going to be down to the wall, towards the wall. Cruz cuts it off and in to score is going to be Jacob Melton and the Astros lead five to two. Jeremy Pena another double. Keep swinging it, JP. And he will knock the Pirates starter out of the game. Astros lead five to two. We'll have a pitching change here. Kyle Nicklaus is his second outing. Altuve with runners on first and third and one out. Altuve drills one to right, going back on it and making the play over his shoulder is Brian Reynolds, but that'll score run number six in the game. Jose Altuve with a line drive, sack fly, and the Astros lead six to two. There you see the left-handed strikeout artist and franchise history. Prober now second on that list. Pretty impressive again. Basically showcasing the curveball against the Pirates, and they haven't shown an answer for it. Triolo on third, Kider on second base. There's two outs presenting a little challenge for Fromber. This is probably his last hitter. Try to hold up, it's a foul tip, and that's a strikeout to end his outing. Fromber with 11 strikeouts tonight. And the Astros have a man on with two out. Now Isak Paredes will bat. Paredes drills one deep to left field, and that one is gone. Isak Paredes. The Astros have now a six-run lead at eight to two. Back-to-back strikeouts for Ort, and the Pirates are down to their final out. Two on, two out. Pirates down eight, two in the ninth. Kider Falefa. And it finishes with a ground ball, potentially to short, and this game's over. The Astros win it eight to two. They take two out of three from the Pirates on the road. That's a good way to end a long night.