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ST. MARYS GRAD BEIMEL GETS FIRST BIG LEAGUE WIN |
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ROOKIE PITCHES FIVE INNINGS ALLOWING TWO RUNS |
| HOUSTON - St. Marys High School graduate and Kersey native
Joe Beimel (1-0) got his first Major League win in his first Major League
start pitching five good innings in helping the Pittsburgh Pirates (3-3)
defeat the Houston Astros (4-2) 9-3 Sunday afternoon at Houston's Enron
Field.
Beimel, who got the start after Terry Mulholland went on the disabled list last week, pitched the first five innings allowing two earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out three. Aramis Ramirez provided Beimel with all the support he would need hitting three home runs and driving home six. The three home runs by Ramirez was only the 16 times in 115 years of Pirate baseball that a Buc has gone deep three times in a game, and he was the first Pirate to do so since Darnell Coles hit three in the second game of a doubleheader at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Cubs Sept. 30, 1987. Jeff Bagwell drove in both runs against Beimel hitting a first-inning home run off the rookie left-hander and then singling home Jose Vizcaino in the third. But by the time Vizcaino scored all it did was cut the Pirates lead to 7-2. Pittsburgh had gained the 7-1 lead thanks to a Brian Giles first-inning double that drove home John Vander Wal and a two-run home run by Ramirez following the Giles double. In the third, the Pirates added four more runs thanks to a single by Vander Wal that drove home Adrian Brown and a three-run home run by Ramirez. The Pirates made the score 8-2 in the fifth when Ramirez hit his third homer of the game, and then Pittsburgh made it 9-2 when Abraham Nunez singled home Pat Mears in the sixth inning. Houston picked up its third run when Julio Lugo homered off of Billy Taylor in the seventh inning. |