The Astros had gotten into the habit of jumping out to early leads in their spring training games this week, but wound up waiting until they had only one out left before pushing a run across in Friday’s 3-2 loss to Pittsburgh.

Houston was held to just two hits through the first eight innings before a pair of walks and a wild pitch put runners in scoring position for Jose Martinez, who drove them in with a single.

Though the offense sputtered, the pitching was solid again for the Astros. Brad Peacock made a strong statement in his bid to earn a spot in the Astros' starting rotation. He gave up just one run in five innings.

“I felt great about it,” Peacock said. “I didn’t have my best stuff today, still trying to find my curveball, but my fastball and change up felt good.”

“Peacock was outstanding,” Astros manager Bo Porter said. “Five solid innings, 84 pitches and attacked the strike zone.”

Peacock’s one blemish came in the second inning when he gave up three hits to put the Pirates up.

“I don’t know what it is about the second inning right now, it’s two starts in a row now. It’s just my mental thing,” Peacock said while laughing. “No, I made some good pitches and they hit the ball in the second but I got out of it.”

Astros reliever Chia Jen-Lo gave up the Pirates’ other runs in the seventh on a Travis Snider double and a sacrifice fly.

The Astros head back to Viera to face the Nationals in a rare night game Saturday. The team is back in Kissimmee Sunday for a game against Toronto, which will be televised on CSN Houston. Coverage begins with Pregame Live starting at 12:30 p.m.