The Astros won the first game of a 3-game series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh on a Labor Day afternoon. Edgar Gonzalez was called up to start the game and right after he punched out the 1st batter on three straight fastballs, I knew something good was coming. Confirming my suspicion, Gonzalez pitched well in his 5.1 innings of 1-run baseball, striking out 5, walking one, and only giving up five hits. He allowed two baserunners in the 6th inning with only one out, prompting manager Tony-D to call Mickey Storey out of the bullpen. Gonzalez reminded me of Brett Myers with his glove-over-the-head kind of pitching delivery. Storey finished up the inning with his slow stuff fooling the Pirate hitters and also had a scoreless 7th inning as well. Wesley Wright pitched a scoreless 8th and was left in to bat in the top of the 9th with a 4-run lead. His at-bat led to a bat being thrown into the Pirate dugout on a strikeout, but this move was beneficial as he pitched a scoreless 9th inning to finish the game with an Astros win.

Among offensive performers, Brett Wallace was the man of the game with his 3 hits as well as his clubbing of a 3-run homerun in the 5th inning off the left-handed starting pitcher for the Pirates, Jeff Locke. Wallace has been good against left-handed pitching this year while with OKC under the supervision of his manager there, Tony-D, so it makes sense that Wallace would be getting consistent playing time against left-handed starting pitchers with Tony DeFrancesco now as the Astros manager. The other players who had hits in this game were Tyler Greene, José Altuve, and Matt Dominguez with each having two singles and Chris Snyder who had one single.

The Astros will be calling up J.D. Martinez, Carlos Corporan, Chuckie Fick and Dallas Keuchel and they will be with the club tomorrow. In the meantime, let's go for the sweep! Wandy will be pitching for the Pirates tomorrow against our own Jordan Lyles. Tony-D also said Brandon Laird will be starting at 3rd base tomorrow.