Sent to the cellar
PITTSBURGH — Roy Oswalt lost a base hit and the Astros gave away a run on a single that wasn't. Still, it all worked out for Houston in an unusual game that ended with an apparent wild pitch that wasn't.
Carlos Lee's two-run homer in the first inning helped Roy Oswalt bounce back from the worst start of his career, and the Astros held on to beat the Pirates 2-1 Friday night as Pittsburgh squandered scoring chances in each of the final three innings.
The Pirates' seventh straight loss dropped them into last place in the NL Central for the first time this season.
Pittsburgh loaded the bases with one out in the ninth with reliever Brad Lidge walking pinch-hitter Xavier Nady and hitting Nate McLouth with a pitch that struck the dirt before deflecting off McLouth's pants leg.
After Lidge struck out Matt Kata, Freddy Sanchez struck out on a pitch that bounced in the dirt and off plate umpire Joe West's chest protector. That prevented the ball from possibly going to the backstop and allowed catcher Brad Ausmus to tag the plate with the ball in his bare hand, forcing out pinch-runner Rajai Davis to end the game.
"The guy was bearing down on him (Ausmus) from third base and he went to grab it and missed it, fortunately he got it and tagged home plate and that was it," Lidge said. "It would have been nice to have it a little more simple than that, but we got it done."
Ausmus described the frantic ending as "panic, pure panic."
"It hit off Joe — I think it hit him square in the chest — and it went over my left shoulder," Ausmus said. "I don't panic a lot, but that was panic right there."
Lidge, closing again for Houston, got his second save since Tuesday after not converting any of his first four attempts.
Two innings before that, Oswalt (9-6) lost an apparent RBI single on a play at the plate, but he didn't lose the game as he limited the Pirates to one run over six-plus innings to beat them for the fifth consecutive time. Oswalt's 107th career win moved him past Nolan Ryan and tied him with J.R. Richard for fourth place on Houston's career list.
Oswalt rebounded after yielding a career-high eight earned runs and 10 hits in 5Z\c innings of a 9-3 loss Saturday to the Cubs.
The Pirates are 0-7, and 0-4 at home, since winning nine of 13 before the All-Star break. This time, they wasted an excellent start by Tom Gorzelanny (9-5), who pitched six shutout innings after yielding Lee's 19th homer four batters into the game.
"We're going to turn it around and right the ship," Gorzelanny said. "We're not a team that should be doing this."
