The Pittsburgh Pirates erupted for seven runs in the top of the 9th inning and went on to beat the Houston Astros by the score of 9-3 on Monday night.  The Pirates went into the 9th inning trailing 3-2 but they were able to jump all over Astros closer Jose Valverde and knock him out of the game and take the lead and eventually win the game by six runs.

Jason Bay got things started with a solo home run in the 9th inning and then Adam LaRoche followed up with a two run shot to give the Pirates the lead.  Jack Wilson tacked on a two run single while Freddy Sanchez had a three run inside-the-park home run to score the final three runs of the game.

Sanchez led the team with four total rbi.  Bay and LaRoche both had two rbi while Wilson had one rbi to help out.  The offense was lucky to get going against Valverde and it was a huge win on the road for the team.

Tyler Yates who pitched the bottom of the eighth inning recorded the win and is now 4-3 on the year.  John Van Benschoten pitched the first five innings of the game and gave up six hits and and allowed the runs to score.  The Pirates pitching staff got lucky as the Astros left 30 runners on base and really should have scored more then three runs.  Oh well, the Pirates will take any breaks they can get!

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