The Pittsburgh Pirates walked off the Houston Astros in exciting fashion on Tuesday night.

Pirate rookie Ji-Hwan Bae saved the day for the Bucs, blasting a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning, though this wasn’t the only impressive part of the Pirates win. Good pitching, timely hitting, and a couple of bombs helped the Bucs win in impressive fashion.

Pirates starter Mitch Keller turned in his second straight solid start. Last series in Boston, Keller went 7 innings, striking out 7 and only giving up one earned run to secure the series sweep over the Red Sox. This time around, Keller looked to keep the Pirates in the game against the reigning World Series champs, and he did just that. After two early home runs by Astros sluggers Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker, the Pirates found themselves down after two innings. After the early runs, Keller settled in, putting up four consecutive zeros to keep his Bucs in the game. Keller is looking to have a career season after his impressive second half to his 2022 season. He will look to continue his hot start in the finale of the Bucs series in St. Louis.

Pitching wasn’t the only positive, as the Bucs blasted a total of three home runs in the game, two of them coming off of the Astros’ Starter, Christian Javier. Javier was impressive through his first two starts of the season, only walking one batter and not allowing a single home run, but Jack Suinski and Ji-Man Choi had something to say about that. In the bottom of the second inning, Pirates shortstop Rodolfo Castro was hit in the foot, putting on a two out base runner for the Bucs. Center Fielder Jack Suwinski got a hold of a high fastball, sending it over the Clemente Wall in right field and out of the stadium. The game was notched at 2-2 and would stay that way until the bottom of the sixth inning. Ji-Man Choi led off the inning with a solo blast, almost identical to Suwinski’s. Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes would then hit a double, and steal third base. Setting up a sacrifice fly by right fielder Canaan Smith-Njigba.

With a two-run lead heading into the ninth, Pirates closer David Bednar came on to try to convert the save. An error and a walk put two runners on with one out, and Astros’ left fielder hit a two run double to tie the game. Bednar would get the next two batters, keeping the game tied at four a piece.

Now the Bucs would have a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the Ninth. Castro led off the inning with a bloop single. After a Suwinski’s strikeout, Andrew McCutchen pinch hit for catcher Jason Delay. After a Cutch single, the Pirates had runners on 2nd and 3rd as the lineup card flipped over. Ji-Hwan Bae battled, eventually hitting a walk-off three-run homer off of Astros’ reliever Ryan Pressley.

The Bucs will look to stay hot and take the series against the Astros before they travel to St. Louis for a four game series.