Wednesday, April 04, 2007
By Dejan Kovacevic, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Xavier Nady slammed his second home run in as many nights -- a solo shot in the second inning at Minute Maid Park.
HOUSTON -- It took another late rally, another big night for Xavier Nady, another round of perfect relief and a career-high 11 strikeouts from Ian Snell for the Pirates to punch out the Houston Astros, 3-2, last night at Minute Maid Park.
It also took, lest it get lost in the high-fives, a small slice of small-ball.
Jack Wilson stepped to the plate with one out in the eighth inning, his team down a run. He scoped the infield and spotted Houston second baseman Craig Biggio shading well over to center field.
A bunt anywhere to right of the pitcher's mound, Wilson reasoned, would get him on.
And he was right, his sweetly placed effort skipping right by reliever Dan Wheeler for his third infield single of the fledgling season.
"I've got to find a way to get on base for the big boys," Wilson said.
"A heads-up play by our shortstop," manager Jim Tracy said. "That fueled the whole inning."
Tracy's counterpart was impressed, too.
"Wilson made a high-risk bunt that he was able to get away with," Houston's Phil Garner said.
Jason Bay drew a five-pitch walk but, when struggling Adam LaRoche lined out to center for the second out, that brought up another struggling player, Ronny Paulino, off to an 0-for-8 start.
Paulino worked the count full and, as he had so often through a .481 spring, hammered the ball into left-center for a single and a 2-2 tie.
And Nady, who homered for the second time in as many days earlier, followed by fighting off a tight sinker for a bloop single into shallow center and a 3-2 lead.
Matt Capps whizzed through the heart of the Astros' order in the eighth, and closer Salomon Torres notched his second save with his second perfect outing.
The result?
The Pirates are 2-0, first time for that since a 4-0 start in 2003, and are tied with the Milwaukee Brewers atop the Central Division.
"We did a lot of good things tonight, and we're seeing a lot of good signs," Tracy said. "And that all began with our starting pitcher. That was a fairly dominant performance you saw out there."
No disputing that.
Snell, who allowed two runs and four hits in his six innings, recorded all but seven of his 18 outs by strikeout. The key: He pinpointed a 94-95 mph fastball early in counts, then had the Astros flailing late.
Just ask him.
"Everything was working for me, and they helped me out," he said before a slight pause. "They helped me out a lot. They were swinging at bad pitches, 0-2 pitches in the dirt."
Snell's counterpart, Jason Jennings, fared well, too: He struck out six Pirates in as many innings and allowed only Nady's second-inning home run that landed on the train tracks high atop the stadium facade in left field.
Nady is 3 for 8 in the series and has struck the ball well even on some of his outs, which might be seen as surprising in light of missing so much of spring training to a stomach ailment.
"When Nady centers the ball, he hits it as hard as anyone on our club," Tracy said.
"I'm just trying to have good at-bats right now," Nady said.
Despite the slow start, the Pirates' hitters again got to Houston's bullpen, which has been charged with five runs in 5 1/3 innings these first two games.
The Pirates' bullpen, by stark contrast, has yet to be scored upon through seven innings. And that, along with the late offense, has made the solid starts of Zach Duke and Snell stand up.
"We believed we would have a good group of relievers, and that's what we're showing so far," Torres said. "We're picking each other up."
John Wasdin, Juan Perez and Jonah Bayliss got the game to Capps and Torres.
Tonight, the Pirates will go for their first series sweep of three games or more at Minute Maid in the stadium's eight-year history. They entered this series with an 11-42 record in the place.
"We're playing with a lot of confidence right now," Paulino said. "You can feel it."
(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com.)
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