Okay, thank goodness. Or "phew," which rhymes with "wooo." The Pirates won 6-3, taking two of three from the Astros, and moving to within a game and a half in the Wild Card chase, as the Cardinals fell to the Mets.
The Pirates got out to a lead early, grabbing two runs in the first when Clint Barmes (who batted second and went 1-for-2 with two walks) singled and Andrew McCutchen walked, and Garrett Jones and Gaby Sanchez (who went 3-for-4 hit RBI singles. Alex Presley then reached on an error to lead off the second and ended up scoring on an infield single by Brock Holt, putting the Pirates up 3-0.
The Astros managed a run off Kevin Correia in the fourth when Jimmy Paredes led off with a double and came home on a single by Brian Bogusevic, but that's all the Astros would manage against Correia, who pitched six strong innings despite only striking out one batter. Correia loaded the bases later in the inning but got out of it by inducing a double play from Carlos Corporan.
Meanwhile, the Pirates got two more in the bottom half of the inning. Rod Barajas led off with a single and came home when Alex Presley belted a triple to the wall in center. Then Presley came home on Holt's sacrifice fly. The Pirates tacked on a sixth run in the sixth when Presley led off with a single and eventually came home on a squeeze by Barmes.
Jason Grilli came on with a 6-1 lead in the ninth and gave up two relatively unimportant runs when Brett Wallace singled and Brandon Laird his his first career homer, but the Pirates still finished the game with a much-needed 6-3 win. Kevin Correia, Clint Barmes, Gaby Sanchez ... that really isn't how the Bucs Dugout crowd dreams these things up, but hey, we'll take it.