Pittsburgh 5 – Houston 4: Pirates sweep Astros to move 2 games above .500

W: James McDonald (5-4)

L: J. Lyles (0-2)

S: J. Veras (1)

— Garrett Jones hit a three-run homer in the first inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates added two runs in the sixth to regain the lead and hold on for a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday.

— The win gives the Pirates their first three-game sweep of the season and extends their winning streak to four.

— The team moves to 35-33 on the season, the first time the Pirates are two games over .500 this late in the season since July 1999.

— Starter James McDonald (5-4) earned his second straight win, allowing seven hits and three runs in 5 2/3 innings. McDonald struck out four and walked four, leaving the game after throwing 109 pitches.

— In relief, Tony Watson (0.00 ERA) walked one in two scoreless innings before Tim Wood got one out.

Jose Veras than allowed two hits and a run in the ninth for his first save since September 2007.

Closer Joel Hanrahan who earned his 19th save last night, was not available to pitch.

— Astros rookie Jordan Lyles (0-2) took the loss and remains winless in four starts after giving up four hits and three earned runs with a career-high eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

After giving up a three run homer to Jones, Lyles retired the next 15 Pirates batters.

— Andrew McCutchen went 1-for-2 with 2 runs scored but lost his 15-game hitting streak.

Major League baseball today overturned McCutchen’s double against the New York Mets on June 11th. On the play McCutchen hit a grounder down the third base line and was awarded a double. He has hitless in his other at-bats during the game, therefore the hitting streak is gone.

With MLB reversing the double, McCutchen also lost the 2 RBI’s he had on the play.

Jose Tabata – 1-for-4, 1R, 1 SO .269

Xavier Paul – 1-for-4, 1 SO – .283

Andrew McCutchen – 1-for-2, 2R, 1B

Neil Walker – 1-for-4, 1R, 1 SO, .261

Garrett Jones – 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, 1R, .250

Josh Harrison – 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 SO, .313

Dusty Brown – 0-for-4, 3 SO, .080

Ronny Cedeno – 0-for-4, 1 SO, .221