Long day worth effort
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates were getting so thin on pitching, first baseman Adam LaRoche was next in line to take the mound. LaRoche himself made certain that wouldn't happen.
LaRoche, his average down to .092, grounded a game-winning single into left field in the 16th inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied after blowing a two-run lead in the ninth to beat Houston 4-3 Wednesday night, the Astros' fifth consecutive loss.
LaRoche had been 0-for-18 at PNC Park before his grounder barely got past shortstop Adam Everett to score Jack Wilson, who reached on a force play ahead of Jose Bautista's single — only the third Pirates hit since the eighth inning — and an intentional walk to Jason Bay.
"The last at-bat, to be honest, I looked out there and saw that hole — they've been playing me to pull — and I said, `I'm not even going to swing hard, I'm going to try to hit that hole over there and just roll something through it,' " LaRoche said. "Somehow, as bad as it's been going, it worked out."
Except for one thing — that unfilled desire of his to pitch in the majors.
"That's the disappointing part, I was really looking forward to pitching," said LaRoche, a former college pitcher and the son of former major league pitcher Dave LaRoche. "Maybe another chance will come up."
John Wasdin (1-1), the eighth Pirates pitcher, won it with two scoreless relief innings. Brian Moehler (0-1) took the loss as Houston outhit the Pirates 16-10 but stranded 18 runners — eight in extra innings.
"We played so hard, it's very disappointing," manager Phil Garner said. "We battled so hard, we got 16 hits but we couldn't get one when we needed one. We've got to come up with that big hit and close that game out."
The Pirates took a 3-1 lead into the ninth after Zach Duke limited the Astros to six hits over seven innings, one night after they were held to three hits by Paul Maholm in a 3-0 Pirates victory. But closer Salomon Torres blew a save for the third time in his last five attempts as Houston tied it on two infield hits, second baseman Jose Castillo's throwing error and RBI singles by Brad Ausmus and Craig Biggio.
Still, the Astros lost their fifth straight to Pittsburgh — the first time since 1991 they've dropped that many in a row to the Pirates. The Astros stranded seven runners in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings.
Notes: Pirates 2B Freddy Sanchez was lifted from the Pirates' original lineup after having debris removed from his right eye by a doctor. With Sanchez out, Bautista batted third for the first time with Pittsburgh and ran his hitting streak to 12 games.
