Errors sink Pirates in narrow loss to Houston, spoiling sweep opportunity

After two innings Wednesday night in Houston, the Pittsburgh Pirates led by four and were in prime position to sweep the Astros at Minute Maid Park for their fourth straight win.

But three errors charged to Oneil Cruz allowed three runs to score and sank them in a 5-4 loss.

The Pirates (55-53) maintained a one-run lead in the sixth, only for pinch-hitter Mauricio Dubon to blast a two-run, go-ahead homer on the first pitch from Colin Holderman, putting Houston ahead by one.

Holderman (3-2, 2.31 ERA) took the loss as well as a blown save.

Cruz committed a throwing error to first base in the second inning, followed by a brutal two-error play in the third, initially on a botched catch in left field and then on an errant throw to home plate.

“As a player, you don’t want to have days like that, but it happens,” Cruz said through Pirates assistant coach and translator Stephen Morales on the SportsNet Pittsburgh postgame show. “It happens for every player out there. But the good thing is, I’m going to look back on those errors, I’m going to learn from them, for sure, and get better.”

The Pirates quickly jumped to a 4-0 lead in the second.

Bryan De La Cruz, leading off the inning, ripped a single into right-center field in his first at-bat with the club post-trade from the Miami Marlins.

Joey Bart then put the Pirates up 2-0, crushing the first pitch he saw from Houston starter Framber Valdez for a towering home run.

After Ke’Bryan Hayes singled, Jared Triolo knocked him in with an RBI double to hand the Pirates a 3-0 lead.

That brought Michael A. Taylor, who made a phenomenal leaping grab at the center-field wall in the first to rob Yordan Alvarez, to the plate.

Taylor grounded out productively, advancing Hayes to third, which set up Andrew McCutchen’s opposite-field RBI single, making the score 4-0.

The Astros got one back in the bottom of the second, with Jeremy Pena scoring from third on a wild pitch by starter Jake Woodford, who debuted for the Pirates after being called up from Triple-A Indianapolis.

Pena had reached base on Cruz’s first error after he made a bad throw on a routine grounder, with Pena advancing to third on a groundout by Jon Singleton and lineout by Jake Meyers.

The Astros trimmed their deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the third largely because of another costly defensive gaffe by Cruz.

With two outs and Chas McCormick on first, Alvarez popped up into no man’s land down the left-field line, forcing Cruz to range well out of position at shortstop, with Bryan Reynolds also sprinting for a chance at the ball.

Cruz called for the ball but overshot it, allowing McCormick to score.

Cruz then made an errant throw to Bart at home trying to nab McCormick, with Alvarez taking third before being knocked in by an RBI double from Yainer Diaz.

Neither of the runs went as earned for Woodford, nor did the Astros’ run in the second.

Woodford, who signed to a minor-league deal in June and made seven starts with Triple-A Indianapolis, started in place of the traded Martin Perez, delivering five innings.

The 27-year-old righty allowed three unearned runs and two hits while striking out three.

“Shouldn’t have given up any runs,” manager Derek Shelton said of Woodford’s start. “Did a really good job, got us through five. … Overall I thought he was really good.”

In the bottom of the sixth, the Pirates turned to Jalen Beeks, acquired from Colorado on Monday.

Beeks recorded two outs, allowing a single to Diaz, before Shelton opted to insert Holderman with the Astros pinch-hitting Dubon.

That decision backfired immediately as Dubon hit a decisive two-run homer, handing the Astros a 5-4 lead, which they would not relinquish.

“He threw a sinker that didn’t sink, it stayed flat and middle-in,” Shelton said. “… Once we got the pinch-hitter, we got the exact matchup really we wanted and (Holderman) didn’t execute a pitch. Because of it, it ended up determining the game.”

De La Cruz went 2 for 4 with a run and two strikeouts.

Hitting coach Andy Haines was ejected three pitches into the top of the first inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Nestor Ceja.