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Charlie Morton pitched five strong innings against the Houston Astros Tuesday night, but an endless sixth inning in which neither he nor the Pirates' relief pitchers could catch a break did the Bucs in.
Morton struck out eight batters in 5.1 innings but allowed four runs overall, thanks to the Astros' sixth, in which one weakly-hit ball after another fell in for a hit. Morton was relieved by Chris Leroux, who continued allowing weak singles, and then Dan McCutchen entered and allowed a double to Jimmy Paredes. By the time it was all over, the Astros had seven runs. (They tacked on another in the seventh inning.)
The Pirates' offense, meanwhile, managed only four hits, including a meaningless ninth-inning solo homer by Andrew McCutchen. The Pirates also struck out 11 times and walked once, even though the Astros' starter was minor-league veteran Henry Sosa.
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