Lance McCullers Jr. Dominates the Pirates in 3-0 Win

Christian Walker hit the winning homer

Oh, me of little faith.

I thought Lance McCullers Jr. was washed up. A casualty of age, two separate major arm injuries, and two years absence from an MLB mound.

But I bet I wasn’t alone in my doubts. Be honest, dear Astros fans, you probably felt that way too.

Maybe we forgot the Lance that threw 20-some straight curves in the 2017 ALCS to flatten the mighty Yankees. Or the determination that helped him gut through three innings to start that year’s victorious Game 7 World Series despite physical exhaustion.

We should never have doubted that Lance would not give up his unlikely quest to return to greatness on the mound. Or that he would succeed.

Lance is back.

In his last game, he threw six innings, striking out 12. Today he threw six shutout innings, allowing only two hits, one walk while striking out seven. He threw 61 strikes out of 96 pitches. This was Lance McCullers at his all-time best. And with the injuries to the Astros staff, this renaissance couldn’t have come at a better time. He outdueled one of baseball’s top-three pitchers, Paul Skenes, in a game you’d almost mark in the loss column before it began.

And he needed a shutout to record the win. Skenes only allowed one run, a homer to Christian Walker in the seventh inning.

It would have been another 1-0 win like the one last Sunday, but Isaac Paredes added a two-run shot in the ninth.

I don’t use this word often, but the Astros bullpen tonight looked awesome again. Shawn Dubin (ERA 0.77), Bryan Abreu, and especially Josh Hader simply destroyed Pirates batters. There was no doubt the Astros would win with Hader in the ninth with a three-run lead.

Is 2025 Josh Hader so far having the best season of any Astros closer ever?

Box score HERE.