Michael A. Taylor's 3-run homer in 9th lifts Pirates to comeback win over Astros

When a late scratch forced the Houston Astros to replace their scheduled starter, it appeared the Pittsburgh Pirates had a major advantage with rookie phenom Paul Skenes on the mound.

It proved just the opposite, as a pair of Astros relievers were perfect through five innings and the Pirates were anything but.

An error by Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes on a Jose Altuve grounder allowed two runs to score in the fifth inning, but the Pirates got a home run by Yasmani Grandal in the sixth and tied it on Oneil Cruz’s RBI double in the eighth.

The Pirates got the decisive play from their own replacement player. Michael A. Taylor didn’t start the game but put the finishing touches on the Astros with a three-run home run off All-Star closer Josh Hader in the ninth inning for a 5-3 win Monday night at Minute Maid Park.

Taylor replaced Joshua Palacios in the fifth inning and went 2 for 3 with three RBIs while playing center field. Palacios (left hamstring) was one of two Pirates outfielders to leave the game with an injury, as Ji Hwan Bae also was removed after tweaking his left knee in the sixth.

“It always means a lot whenever you can do something to help the team,” Taylor said in an on-field interview with SportsNet Pittsburgh. “I didn’t start the game, but you want to be ready for every situation.”

It was the second consecutive ninth-inning rally on the road by the Pirates (54-52) — they beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-5, in 10 innings on Sunday — despite providing only one run of support for Skenes.

Skenes relied more on his splinker and slider than his four-seam fastball in allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits and a career-high three walks with six strikeouts on 101 pitches in six innings.

“There were a lot of opportunities that I missed there, a couple two-strike hits,” Skenes said. “I had a few strikeouts, but I could’ve had more.”

It was his 11th quality start in 13 outings, but Skenes had his streak of nine consecutive games with at least seven strikeouts snapped. The Pirates spared Skenes a second consecutive defeat with their late rally.

“Overshadowed a little bit but we’re not in the position we’re in unless Mitch (Keller) has the start (Sunday) and Paul has this start,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “They made him work. This is a veteran lineup with some really good hitters. The first three guys in this lineup are as good as it gets and they made him grind a little bit. He did a nice job. He executed pitches when he had to. Overall, he just continues to impress.”

The Astros (55-51) scratched their scheduled starter, as rookie right-hander Jake Bloss was traded to Toronto just hours before first pitch. That ended the potential matchup between a pair of 2023 MLB Draft picks in Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick, and Bloss, selected in the third round at No. 99.

Instead, Houston started righty reliever Tayler Scott. The 32-year-old journeyman sidewinder had four strikeouts — including the side on 13 pitches in the first inning — in pitching three perfect innings.

Skenes gave up a leadoff single to Jose Altuve before striking out three of the next five Astros and becoming the sixth pitcher in major league history to record his 100th strikeout in his first 13 starts when he got Jon Singleton to chase a changeup in the second inning.

In the fourth, Skenes gave up a leadoff single to Alex Bregman but got Yordan Alvarez to ground into a double play. That saved a run when Yainer Diaz doubled deep to left-center, and Skenes got Jeremy Pena to pop out in foul territory to keep the Astros scoreless.

Houston finally scored in the fifth. Singleton hit a leadoff single to right, Jake Meyers drew a full-count walk and Skenes hit Victor Caratini with a pitch to load the bases. Skenes struck out Trey Cabbage, but Altuve’s sharp grounder took a bad hop and went off Hayes’ glove as the Astros took a 2-0 lead.

“For me, it sucked because two runs came in,” Hayes said. “I was pretty (angry).”

The Pirates finally broke up the perfect game in the sixth, when Grandal smashed Kaleb Ort’s 2-1 fastball 388 feet to right field for his fourth home run to cut their deficit in half. Singles by Taylor and Bryan Reynolds followed by a double steal put a pair of runners in scoring position, but Bryan Abreu struck out Cruz to strand them.

In the sixth, Skenes walked Pena, who advanced to third when Skenes was charged with a throwing error on a pickoff play at first. Skenes then walked Singleton but escaped by getting Meyers to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play.

The Pirates tied it in the eighth when Jared Triolo hit a leadoff double and Reynolds drew a full-count walk to put runners on first and second for Cruz. With two outs, Cruz drilled Ryan Pressly’s slider for a line-drive double to right — clocked at an exit velocity of 119.3 mph — to score Triolo and make it 2-2. Rowdy Tellez drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases, but Joey Bart flied out to center.

Alvarez got a broken-bat single and Pena reached on a two-out fielding error by Cruz in the eighth, but Aroldis Chapman got pinch hitter Mauricio Dubon swinging at a 101.4-mph fastball to end the scoring threat and set the stage for Taylor’s heroics.

Hayes led off the ninth by working a full-count walk, then advanced to second on a balk by Hader. Jared Triolo drew another walk to put a pair of runners on for Taylor, who smashed a 2-1 sinker over the middle 421 feet to left-center for his third homer of the season for a 5-2 lead.

“It was huge. A big at-bat there against one of the best closers in the game,” Shelton said. “We made Hader grind, and it starts with Ke’Bryan’s at-bat. Ke’Bryan leads off the inning and it kind of changes the whole tenor of the inning.”

The Astros loaded the bases with one out against David Bednar in the bottom of the ninth, and the Pirates’ two-time All-Star closer walked Alvarez to cut it to 5-3. But Bednar got Yainer Diaz to pop up to shortstop to end the game.

“We fight all the way to the end,” Taylor said. “Guys are grinding out at-bats. Obviously, our pitching has been great all year; they keep us in the ballgame. It’s just quality at-bat after quality at-bat. Guys just don’t give up.”