Taylor homers again as Bucs clinch series win over Astros

Ben Cherington wouldn’t say whether the Pittsburgh Pirates deciding not to acquire a center fielder at the trade deadline was a vote of confidence for Michael A. Taylor.

But a day after Taylor delivered a threerun home run in the ninth inning of a comeback win against the Houston Astros, the Pirates general manager didn’t hesitate to express faith in him.

Taylor rewarded it by blasting another homer, this one a two-run shot in the sixth inning that boosted the Pirates to a 6-2 win Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park to clinch a series win.

“We believe in Michael,” Cherington said of Taylor, the 2021 AL Gold Glove winner. “It’s why we signed him. We know the defense is there. Obviously, there were stretches during this year where it’s been a struggle offensively and he’s been grinding. … We know what he’s capable of; this is a guy who hit 21 home runs last year with premium defense, so I think there’s every opportunity for him to make a big impact on this team in the next two months.”

Taylor’s homer was one of 11 hits by the Pirates (55-52), who took advantage of three Astros errors and got a solid start from lefty Bailey Falter to pull even with the St. Louis Cardinals for second place in the NL Central and 1 ½ games back in wild card standings. They have a chance to sweep the three-game series Wednesday against the Astros (55-52).

Activated from the injured list, Falter was very efficient in his first start since July 6 by throwing strikes on 47 of his 66 pitches in allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits without a walk and three strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, after Ke’Bryan Hayes got a leadoff single to left, advanced to third on Connor Joe’s grounder to right and scored when Jared Triolo grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

They extended it in the fourth, thanks to an error. Joey Bart singled to center, then scored for a 2-0 lead when Connor Joe hit a two-out dribbler that pitcher Hunter Brown backhanded but made a low throw that skipped past first baseman Jon Singleton for a two-base error. Triolo doubled to the left field corner to score Joe for a 3-0 lead.

Yainer Diaz started the bottom of the fourth by driving Falter’s first-pitch curveball 351 feet to left field for his 10th home run to cut it to 3-1. Falter, however, responded with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out, then got Jose Altuve to ground into an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

After Triolo worked an eight-pitch atbat for a two-out walk in the sixth, Taylor crushed a 2-1 sinker at the top of the strike zone for a 403-foot home run to left field to make it 5-1.

It was the second consecutive game with a towering homer for Taylor, whose three-run shot in the ninth lifted the Pirates to a 5-3 win over the Astros on Monday night.

When Yordan Alvarez singled in the sixth, the Pirates replaced Falter with righty Dennis Santana. Diaz singled to short, and Oneil Cruz’s errant throw allowed Alvarez to reach third. Alvarez scored when Jeremy Pena grounded into a forceout to cut it to 5-2, but Bryan Reynolds stretched out for a diving catch in left to rob Jake Meyers.

Andrew McCutchen drew a bases-loaded, full-count walk off Seth Martinez to drive in Joey Bart to stretch the lead to 6-2 in the eighth. The Pirates got scoreless relief from Santana, Kyle Nicolas and Hunter Stratton to finish off the Astros.

AP