Rookie Musgrove roughed up in Astros' 7-1 loss to Pirates
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Joe Musgrove is learning that pitching in the major leagues is not as easy as he made it look when he was first called up by the Houston Astros on Aug. 1.
The rookie right-hander had his second straight rough outing while Ivan Nova took a shutout into the ninth inning and finished with a six-hitter and Gregory Polanco hit two home runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-1 victory over the Astros on Tuesday night.
The Pirates opened the first inning with six straight hits off Musgrove. Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen hit consecutive RBI doubles then Polanco and rookie Josh Bell drove in runs with singles.
"The starter's job is to go out there and set the tone of the game and anytime you go out there and have a first inning like that, it kind of sucks the wind out of you," Musgrove said.
Musgrove (1-2) was rocked for five runs and eight hits in four innings with two strikeouts and no walks. He has allowed a combined 13 runs in 9 1/3 innings while losing his last two starts.
The 23-year-old gave up only one run in 11 1/3 innings in first two games, one a start and the other a relief appearance.
"He's learning," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. "That's part of the nature of having young starters. He's got to learn to battle himself through his first back-to-back games of adversity. He has pitches to do it. He has a ton of competitiveness in him."
Musgrove readily admits he is experiencing a learning curve.
"I throw a lot of strikes and that's been a strength for me," he said. "Up here, guys don't miss pitches as much. I just made bad pitches tonight and they took advantage of it."
Nova (10-6) struck out six, walked one and threw 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes while improving to 3-0 in four starts since being acquired from the New York Yankees in an Aug. 1 trade.
It was the fourth complete game of the right-hander's seven-year career with the others coming in 2013.
"He was very efficient with his pitches," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "He threw a lot of really good sinkers against a very good-hitting team with a lot of right-handed hitters and he locked them up with the ball away."
His bid for his third career shutout ended when Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve led off the ninth with consecutive doubles.
Pittsburgh snapped its four-game losing streak and stopped Houston's four-game winning streak. Both teams entered 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card in their respective leagues.
After the Pirates scored four runs in the first inning, Polanco hit solo shots in the third and fifth off Musgrove and Tony Sipp to extend the lead to 6-0 and raise his season total to a team-high 19 homers.
It was Polanco's second two-home run game of his three-year career. The other was July 4 at St. Louis.
Polanco had three of the Pirates' 11 hits while driving in three runs and scoring three times.
The Astros' Marwin Gonzalez had three hits.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Astros: 3B Luis Valbuena will undergo surgery in the next few days to repair a torn tendon in his right hamstring. Out since July 27, Valbuena finishes the season hitting .260 with 13 home runs in 90 games. ... OF Preston Tucker (strained right shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi. ... 3B/OF Yulieski Gurriel (right hamstring tightness) did not start for a second straight game after making his major league debut Sunday but is expected to be in the lineup Wednesday.
UP NEXT
Astros: RHP Collin McHugh (7-10, 4.99 ERA) starts the finale of the three-game series Wednesday. He is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in his last five starts.
Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-8, 3.30) is 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA in his last three starts.