PITTSBURGH -- The tables were turned on Wednesday night.
The Astros had thrown a shutout in their previous two games. That helped them move into first place in the American League West.
However, it was Houston which was shut out in the middle game of the series with Pittsburgh. The Astros managed just seven hits combined off Bucs rookie Mike Burrows and three relievers as they were blanked for the fourth time this season, 3-0, at PNC Park.
Houston went hitless in four at-bats with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.
“I thought we couldn’t get our bats going,” manager Joe Espada said. “There were some pretty decent arms we saw today. They mixed their pitches well, and we couldn’t get any offense going. It was one of those games.”
One bright spot for the Astros was the hitting of shortstop Jeremy Peña, who went 2-for-4 with a double to run his hitting streak to 10 games. Peña has logged multiple hits in six of those games, and Houston is 7-3 during that stretch.
Peña is having a fine season, slashing .312/.374/.481 in 61 games, with nine home runs and 10 stolen bases. The fourth-year veteran has lifted his career batting average to .267.
Going into Tuesday’s action, Pena’s 3.6 bWAR was the third-best mark in MLB behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (4.7) and the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong (3.8).
“I think it’s just having more experience,” Peña said of what is driving his success. “The longer you’re in the league, the more you kind of learn about the league and learn about yourself, learn how to manage yourself.
“It’s just been about staying true to myself, trying to improve every single day, and just trying to show up and compete.”
Peña burst onto the scene in 2022, when he helped lead the Astros to a World Series championship as a rookie. He was the MVP of both the American League Championship Series and World Series.
Peña seemed primed for stardom then. Following decent seasons in 2023 and ‘24, the 27-year-old is taking his game to the next level this year.
Peña has done exceptionally well since Espada moved him to the top of the lineup on April 27. He replaced nine-time All-Star Jose Altuve, who asked out of the leadoff spot while making the transition from second base to left field so he could have more time to get ready for his first plate appearance of each game.
Peña is batting .358 (49-for-137) in 34 games in the No. 1 slot, with seven doubles, six home runs and 22 RBIs.
“He loves it,” Espada said of Peña hitting leadoff. “I think he just kind of has that personality where he kind of wants to be the guy in the moment. When we made the move, he got super excited and said he was going to make it tough for me to take him out of [the leadoff spot]. The way he’s playing right now, I’m definitely not going to do that.”
Yainer Diaz also had two hits for the Astros.
Rookie Ryan Gusto (3-3) took the loss, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings, yet each of the runs scored on outs -- a grounder, a sacrifice fly and a double play. Steven Okert, Bryan King and Bennett Sousa combined for 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings.
“I think the best way to describe today is ‘That’s baseball,’” Gusto said. “They found some holes, and they didn’t hit many balls especially hard. I feel happy with the way the game went. They just manufactured some runs on us.”