Pittsburgh @ Houston preview

Pittsburgh at Houston

Last Meeting ( Apr 23, 2010 ) Pittsburgh 3, Houston 4

At the beginning of this very week, the Pittsburgh Pirates were contemplating first place and the Houston Astros were trying to get back on track from a disastrous 0-8 start.

Now, as the week approaches its final day, the Astros are attempting to tie the swooning Bucs in the NL Central on Saturday. Pittsburgh has lost four straight while Houston has won five of its last six games.

The Astros had the most woeful offense in the National League prior to their 4-3 victory against the Pirates on Friday night, but Pittsburgh now has an even more anemic team batting average than the Astros - .225 to .228.

In an attempt to shore up a pitching staff hampered by injuries and ineffectiveness, the Pirates are expected to start Chris Jakubauskas on Saturday in place of injured Ross Ohlendorf.

Jakubauskas was called up from Triple-A Indianapolis on Friday, with utility infielder Argenis Diaz sent down in his place. The journeyman is a 31-year-old right-hander who made his major league debut with Seattle last season after spending three years playing independent baseball in the last decade.

Jakubauskas’ stats have been pedestrian to date, however. After posting a 6-7 record with a 5.32 earned run average for the Mariners last season, he was 0-2 for 5-9 Indianapolis this year. His statistics in these two games aren’t overwhelming - five earned runs and 10 hits in 10 innings with an 8-to-4 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.

Unfortunately, had Jakubauskas posted these totals in Pittsburgh, he would be the Pirates’ second most effective starter to date this season.

He’ll be opposed by Wandy Rodriguez, whose 0-2 record is more the result of Houston’s woeful offense to date rather than his own pitching performances. The 31-year-old lefty has yet to allow more than four earned runs in any of his three starts.

Rodriguez comes off a seven inning no-decision on April 18 against the Chicago Cubs in which he allowed only seven base runners and two earned runs. A 14-game winner in 2009, Rodriguez is 4-4 lifetime against the Bucs.

Pittsburgh is hoping for a return of third baseman Andy LaRoche in this game. LaRoche has not played in eight days due to a back injury and has been spelled by Delwyn Young for most of this stretch.

But despite Young’s reputation as a utility man, his lack of experience at third was evident in Friday’s loss. Jeff Keppinger’s two-out double to drive in Roy Oswalt in the third inning literally went between Young’s legs, and Young also made a throwing error on a Keppinger bunt in the seventh inning.

Three players appeared to shake off hitting slumps in Friday’s game. Pittsburgh’s Garret Jones hit his fourth home run of the year after hitting his first three in the season’s initial two games. Jeff Clement, who was hitting .135 coming into the game, belted his second homer of the year for Pittsburgh.

For his part, Carlos Lee drove in two runs after driving in just one this season prior to the game.