PITTSBURGH _ The Pirates put a charge into the PNC Park crowd with a four-run first inning Tuesday night, but Gregory Polanco saved the fireworks for later. His pair of solo shots provided insurance for right-hander Ivan Nova, who held the Houston Astros to one run and tossed a complete game in a 7-1 win.
The streak-snapping, slump-busting victory improved the Pirates to 63-60.
Nova, rented from the New York Yankees at the trade deadline, did not surrender a run until the ninth inning. He allowed six hits and walked one, striking out five, on 98 pitches. The Pirates are now 4-0 behind him. Nova is the third Pirates pitcher to throw a complete game this season.
Polanco was 3 for 4 with three runs scored and three RBIs, his team-leading 18th and 19th home runs of the season amounting to his second career two-homer game. Rookie Josh Bell started at first base for the third game in a row and was 2 for 3, returning his average to .500.
A fast start was what the doctor ordered for the scuffling Pirates. After Nova turned in a 1-2-3 first inning on 10 pitches, the offense pounced on the Astros' rookie right-hander Joe Musgrove.
After Adam Frazier singled leading off, Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen tagged RBI doubles. Polanco shot an RBI single to left, and by the time David Freese's base hit reached the outfield grass the Astros had right-hander Brad Peacock warming in their bullpen.
Musgrove finally recorded his first out when Bell ripped a run-scoring single to left _ the sixth consecutive hit to start Musgrove's shabby night at PNC Park _ and was thrown out trying to advance to second base. The rally lost its momentum there, but the Pirates led, 4-0.
The Pirates' four-run first matched their run total from their previous three games.
Polanco returned to the plate in the third and worked a 3-1 count. Musgrove tested the outside edge with a sinker, and Polanco poked it over the left-field wall for his 18th homer this season. Musgrove (1-2) lasted just four innings against the Pirates, allowing eight hits and five runs.
The Astros countered in the fifth with left-hander Tony Sipp, who struck out the first two batters he faced. He alternated sliders and fastballs until Polanco, having fouled off three pitches in a row, drilled the seventh offering, a slider, into the front row of bleachers in right-center field.
On this night, even Polanco's misstep resulted in a run. After working a 3-0 count against Peacock with two on and no outs in the seventh, he grounded into a fielder's choice. Shortstop Carlos Correa, trying for a double play, threw the ball into the camera well, scoring Joyce from third.
Nursing a seven-run lead in the eighth, Nova made a rare mistake, walking Evan Gattis with one out. It was Nova's first walk of the night, but also his only walk in 23 2/3 innings since joining the Pirates. On the next pitch, his 84th, Nova induced a double-play grounder to end the inning.
His shot at a shutout ended when Alex Bregman scorched a leadoff double off the wall in the ninth, and Jose Altuve drove in the run by pulling an RBI double down the left-field line. A strikeout, a groundout brought the crowd to its feet, and Nova finished the job with punch-out.
