PITTSBURGH — Who said the Pirates lost a leadoff hitter who’s blazing fast and can also hit homers?
OK, Ji Hwan Bae isn’t Oneil Cruz. However, Bae did a pretty solid impression of a player he often refers to as his best friend to help the Pirates walk off the Houston Astros with a 7-4 victory on Tuesday at PNC Park.
After a Rodolfo Castro error had helped to allow the Astros to tie the score in the ninth, Castro and Andrew McCutchen singled to ignite a rally in the bottom half.
Bae, 0 for 4 at the time, hammered a 2-2 change-up into the right-field stands for his first career walk-off homer. It was a terrific moment that comes two series after Bae hit his first career homer in Boston and now gives the Pirates a chance to win the series against Houston, the defending World Series champs.
With David Bednar seemingly en route to his MLB-high fifth save, Castro booted a ball off the bat of second baseman Mauricio Dubon, his second error in as many games at shortstop.
Pinch-hitter David Hensley followed with a single before left fielder Chas McCormick smacked a 3-1 curveball from Bednar down the third-base line for a two-run double, tying the game at 4.
Earlier on in this one, it felt like Jack Suwinski and Ji-Man Choi — and their emergence as potential power options in the absence of Cruz — might be the story.
At one point considered potential pillars in the middle of the order, Suwinski and Choi languished to a combined .079 average through 10 games, with Suwinski bumped out of a regular outfield spot and Choi struggling to crack the outfield/designated hitter rotation.
Suwinski hit a two-run homer in the second inning to forge a 2-2 tie. Choi pushed the Pirates ahead, 3-2, with his solo shot in the sixth.
With Cruz out, the Pirates must hope that Suwinski and Choi find some kind of spark. They certainly need the offensive help from the left side of the plate, and those guys are capable of putting the ball over the fence.
Ironically, manager Derek Shelton has praised both of their at-bats on Sunday, believing the better approaches might lead to something.
We saw it with Choi on Monday night, when he homered off Astros starter Framber Valdez, who had only allowed five homers to left-handed hitters in his career. It also happened last year when Suwinski burst onto the scene, thriving with the short porch in right at PNC and totaling 19 home runs.
There’s obviously no way the Pirates can directly replace Cruz. However, if they got a little more from two other left-handed hitters with power … well, it certainly wouldn’t hurt.
The Pirates also have to love what they got from Mitch Keller, who buckled down after allowing a pair of homers and gave up just two earned runs over six innings, walking two and striking out seven. Attacking the Astros with a bunch of sweepers and cutters, Keller racked up 11 whiffs and 11 called strikes, allowing just two hits over his final four frames.
Duane Underwood Jr. and Colin Holderman breezed through the seventh and eighth before Bednar encountered problems in the ninth.
ON THE MOUND
It looked early on like this might be another rough start for the Pirates, as Keller gave up homers in each of the first two innings.
Third baseman Alex Bregman tagged Keller on a sinker middle-in. Right fielder Kyle Tucker handled a cutter that was down-and-in, which can be a trouble spot with right-handers throwing sweepers or sliders that break directly into what’s often a hot zone for lefty hitters.
Tuesday marked just the second time since the beginning of 2022 that Keller allowed multiple home runs in a game.
Keller also did an excellent job stopping it there. His most important inning was the third, when he sat the Astros down in order, with designated hitter Yordan Alvarez and first baseman Jose Abreu caught looking at a four-seamer and sweeper, respectively.
Keller worked around two walks in the fourth, then allowed a one-out double to Bregman in the fifth. Once again, Keller made a terrific pitch when he needed it, this time a cutter to strike out Alvarez — MLB’s RBI leader — with a runner on second base.
AT THE PLATE
Suwinski helped the Pirates tie the game at 2 in the second inning, when Astros starter Cristian Javier plunked Castro to extend the frame.
Ahead in the count, 1-0, Suwinski turned on an elevated four-seamer and launched it 399 feet to right field, the ball leaving his bat at 107.9 mph. Considering Suwinski was 1 for 15 on the season to that point, the homer had to feel good.
Choi put the Pirates in front, 3-2, leading off the sixth, with the designated hitter collecting his second bomb in as many games. With the count full, Choi didn’t miss on a heater atop the zone, clobbering it over the right-field fence at 418 feet at 110 mph.
A sneaky important sequence came later in the inning, when Ke’Bryan Hayes doubled with one out and stole third base, bringing a sacrifice fly or ground ball to the right side in play. Canaan Smith-Njigba, who routinely takes professional at-bats, obliged, lofting a ball to left to score the run.
UP NEXT
Rich Hill will make his third start of the season in the series finale. The left-hander has worked nine innings this season while allowing five home runs.
