Pirates Stunned By Astros After Bullpen Blows Big Lead in 8th

Danny Demilio |

Jun 3, 2026

Mason Montgomery, Pittsburgh Pirates — Photo provided by Eddie Provident

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked poised to cruise to their fifth straight win, but the bullpen collapsed in grand fashion in the eighth inning, resulting in an unimaginable 11-9 loss to the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on Wednesday night.

Scoring Plays

Bottom 3rd, 2-0 HOU: With two on and one out, Yordan Alvarez ripped a base hit to right field to give the Astros (28-35) the lead against Paul Skenes. Later in the inning, Houston had runners on the corners with two outs, and third baseman Nick Gonzales couldn’t make a play on a hard grounder. It was scored an RBI single for Isaac Paredes.

Top 4th, 4-2 PIT: With the bases loaded and two outs, Henry Davis launched a grand slam to left field off Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti to give the Pirates (33-29) the lead. The blast hit the train tracks above the left field stands traveled 396 feet.

Bottom 5th, 4-3 PIT: Skenes labored threw the fifth inning and Cam Smith delivered a two-out RBI single on the right-hander’s 3-2 pitch, his career-high 109th offering of the game.

Top 6th, 5-3 PIT: Oneil Cruz and Marcell Ozuna drew back-to-back walks off Alimber Santa to open the inning and with one out, Jared Triolo hit an RBI single to right off Bryan King.

Top 7th, 8-3 PIT: Gonzales connected on a two-run shot, his second homer of the year, off Astros reliever Nate Pearson. Later in the inning, Jhostynxon Garcia doubled home Pittsburgh’s eighth run of the game.

Bottom 7th, 8-5 PIT: Paredes drilled a two-run home run to left field off Yohan Ramírez to bring the Astros within three.

Top 8th, 9-5 PIT: Gonzales plated his third run of the game with an RBI double to right off AJ Blubaugh (3-2).

Bottom 8th, 11-9 HOU: Disaster struck in the eighth. With two outs, Nick Allen and Christian Vázquez hit back-to-back doubles off Mason Montgomery to push across a run. Two batters later, Alvarez plated another with a base hit to center. The Pirates then turned to Gregory Soto (4-1), who did not record an out. Christian Walker plated a run on an infield single and Zach Cole, who run for Alvarez, scored the tying run on a wild pitch. Smith then put the Astros ahead with a two-run triple to right.

Key Moments

All six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning came with two outs. Mason Montgomery struck out the first two batters before eight straight batters reached.

Player of the Game

The red-hot Yordan Alvarez finished with four hits in five at-bats. He drove in two runs and scored once.

Stat to Know

The Pirates have now scored at least nine runs in each of their last four games. They’ve only had a stretch that long six other times in the Modern Era (since 1901), the last of which came in 1928.

Notable Performances

Paul Skenes: 4.2 innings, seven hits, three runs, one walk, seven strikeouts, 109 pitches/68 strikes
Mason Montgomer: 0.2 inning, two hits, three runs, one walk, two strikeouts, 26 pitches/14 strikes
Gregory Soto: 0.0 innings, three hits, three runs, one walk, no strikeouts, 18 pitches/nine strikes
Nick Gonzales: 2 for 5, one home run, one double, three RBI, one run
Henry Davis: 1 for 4, one home run, four RBI, one run
Spencer Horwitz: 3 for 5
Oneil Cruz: 2 for 3, two walks, two runs, one steal

Noteworthy

The Pirates have hit multiple home runs in five straight games. This is only the sixth time in the Modern Era the Pirates have hit multiple homers in at least five straight games in a single season and the first since 2014.
Pirates pitchers have recorded nine strikeouts in eight straight game. They’ve only had eight straight games of nine-plus strikeouts two other times in the Modern Era (2016 and 2022).
The Pirates were 28-3 this season when leading after seven innings.
Gregory Soto suffered his first lost since last year on Aug. 28.
Nick Gonzales extended his hitting streak to nine games.

Up Next

RHP Jared Jones (0-0, 10.38 ERA) will make his second start of the season for the Pirates in Thursday’s finale. The Astros will have RHP Kai-Wei Teng (3-3, 2.57 ERA) on the mound. First pitch: 8:10 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh, FS1/93.7 The Fan,