HOUSTON (Interstat) — Jared Jones threw five scoreless innings and Ryan O’Hearn drove in three runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros 5-1 on Thursday night at Daikin Park, snapping a two-game series split and improving to 34-29 on the season.

Jones, making his second start of the season after a rough outing against Minnesota on May 29, allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four. He left with a 1-0 lead after the top of the first inning, but the Pirates broke the game open with a four-run sixth inning that proved decisive. The right-hander earned his first win of the year, lowering his ERA to 5.79.

Carmen Mlodzinski followed Jones with four innings of relief, allowing one run on four hits while striking out three to pick up his first save of the season. Mlodzinski entered in the bottom of the sixth after Houston’s Isaac Paredes led off with a solo home run, his eighth of the year, and held the Astros scoreless the rest of the way. He worked around a pair of singles in the seventh and a leadoff single in the ninth before inducing a game-ending double play.

Houston starter Kai-Wei Teng took the loss, falling to 3-4. The right-hander worked five innings, giving up seven hits and four earned runs with one strikeout and two walks. He allowed a run in the first inning but settled down until the Pirates erupted in the sixth.

The Pirates struck first in the opening inning. Brandon Lowe led off with a double to right field, his 13th of the season, and scored two batters later on a single to center by O’Hearn. Lowe’s hit sparked a rally that saw Pittsburgh take an early lead despite leaving two runners on base.

After three scoreless innings from both sides, the Pirates’ offense broke loose in the sixth. Lowe doubled again, this time to right for his 14th two-base hit. Bryan Reynolds followed with an RBI single to center, scoring Lowe and chasing Teng from the game. Steven Okert entered for Houston and promptly allowed a two-run home run to O’Hearn, his ninth of the year, that cleared the right-field wall and gave Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead.

Nick Gonzales singled softly to third base, and Oneil Cruz followed with a single to right, putting runners on first and second. After Endy Rodríguez popped out, Jake Mangum lined out to left field. Jared Triolo then reached on a fielding error by Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña, allowing Gonzales to score and making it 5-0. Triolo was picked off and caught stealing second to end the inning.

Houston answered immediately in the bottom half. Paredes led off with a solo home run to left field, his eighth of the season, cutting the deficit to 5-1. Mlodzinski then retired the next three batters in order and kept the Astros off the board for the remainder of the game.

The Astros mounted a threat in the seventh when Nick Allen singled and Jeremy Peña singled sharply to left. But Mlodzinski got Yordan Alvarez to fly out and Christian Walker to ground out, ending the inning. Houston also put a runner on base in the ninth on a Taylor Trammell single, but Collin Price struck out and Jake Meyers grounded into a double play to end the game.

Pittsburgh’s defense turned two double plays on the night, including the game-ending twin killing. The Pirates finished with nine hits, led by Lowe’s two doubles and O’Hearn’s home run and single. Reynolds added two hits, and Cruz had two singles. Brandon Lowe also went 2 for 5.

Houston managed eight hits. Paredes had the only extra-base hit, his solo home run. Yordan Alvarez doubled in the fifth inning and singled in the seventh, going 1 for 3 with a walk. Taylor Trammell doubled in the fourth and singled in the ninth. The Astros left seven runners on base.

The victory gave the Pirates a series win after dropping the opener Wednesday 11-9 and winning Tuesday 10-6. Pittsburgh has now won five of its last six games overall, including a three-game sweep of Minnesota over the weekend. The Astros have lost three of their last four after taking two of three from Milwaukee last weekend.

Pittsburgh’s next game is Friday at Atlanta. Houston will host the Athletics on Friday.

The announced attendance was 23,136. The game lasted 2 hours, 42 minutes.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected an 8-5 final score in favor of Pittsburgh, and the ELO system gave Houston a 52.60 percent probability to win. The Pirates were installed as pregame favorites at minus 1.5 on the run line. The total of six runs went under the over/under line of 8.5.