PITTSBURGH -- Ivan Nova has developed a pre-game ritual since coming to the Pittsburgh Pirates from the New York Yankees in a trade on Aug. 1.The right-hander walks up to right fielder Gregory Polanco in the dugout just before the first pitch and asks him to hit a home run.He hit two for me today, Nova said with a smile.Nova took a shutout into the ninth inning and finished with a six-hitter while Polanco hit two home runs to lead the Pirates to a 7-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.Nova (10-6) struck out six, walked one and threw 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes while improving to 3-0 in four starts with the Pirates.It was the fourth complete game of the right-handers seven-year career with the others coming in 2013.He was very efficient with his pitches, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. He threw a lot of really good sinkers against a very good-hitting team with a lot of right-handed hitters and he locked them up with the ball away.His bid for his third career shutout ended when Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve led off the ninth with consecutive doubles.Pittsburgh snapped its four-game losing streak and stopped Houstons four-game winning streak. Both teams entered 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card in their respective leagues.Nova is doing his best to keep the Pirates hopes of a fourth consecutive postseason appearance alive after being traded for the first time in his career.You dont want to get traded, Nova said. This is not what I was looking for. Stuff like that happens, though. Im happy to be here. Its a good group of guys who want to win and Im trying to do the best I can to help them win.After the Pirates scored four runs in the first inning, Polanco hit solo shots in the third and fifth off Joe Musgrove and Tony Sipp to extend the lead to 6-0 and raise his season total to a team-high 19 homers.It was Polancos second two-home run game of his three-year career. The other was July 4 at St. Louis.The right fielder hit a combined 19 homers in his first two seasons.I guess Im getting stronger, Polanco said. My swing is getting better, shorter and quicker. Experience, too. The more swings you take, the better you get every day.The Pirates opened the first inning with six straight hits off Musgrove (1-2). Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen hit consecutive RBI doubles then Polanco and rookie Josh Bell drove in runs with singles.Polanco had three of the Pirates 11 hits while driving in three runs and scoring three times. Joyce and Bell added two hits each.The Astros Marwin Gonzalez had three hits.Musgrove, a rookie making his fourth career start, was rocked for five runs and eight hits in four innings with two strikeouts and no walks. He has allowed a combined 13 runs in 9 1/3 innings while losing his last two starts.Hes learning, Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. Thats part of the nature of having young starters. Hes got to learn to battle himself through his first back-to-back games of adversity. He has pitches to do it. He has a ton of competitiveness in him.TRAINERS ROOMAstros: 3B Luis Valbuena will undergo surgery in the next few days to repair a torn tendon in his right hamstring. Out since July 27, Valbuena finishes the season hitting .260 with 13 home runs in 90 games. ... OF Preston Tucker (strained right shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi. ... 3B/OF Yulieski Gurriel (right hamstring tightness) did not start for a second straight game after making his major league debut Sunday but is expected to be in the lineup Wednesday.UP NEXTAstros: RHP Collin McHugh (7-10, 4.99 ERA) starts the finale of the three-game series Wednesday. He is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in his last five starts.Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-8, 3.30) is 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA in his last three starts. Cheap NFL Jerseys China .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. Cheap NFL Jerseys 2017 . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. http://www.cheapnfljerseysbestsite.com/ . 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The Seattle Mariners?have suspended Steve Clevenger?without pay for the remainder of the 2016 season after the backup catcher posted a pair of inflammatory tweets Thursday.As soon as we became aware of the tweets posted by Steve yesterday we began to examine all of our options in regard to his standing on the team, general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a statement Friday. Today we have informed him that he is suspended for the remainder of the season without pay.Clevengers tweets referenced the recent unrest in Charlotte, North Carolina, after police shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott on Tuesday. One tweet said in part that Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals!Clevenger later apologized, saying in a lengthy statement released through his agent that he was sickened by the idea that anyone would think of me in racist terms.First and foremost I would like to apologize to the Seattle Mariners, my teammates, my family and the fans of our great game for the distraction my tweets on my personal twitter page caused when they went public earlier today, Clevenger said in the statement.Clevenger, a 30-year-old journeyman who has spent time with the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs over parts of six seasons since 2011, had played in 22 games this year in his only season for the Mariners, batting .221 with one home run and seven RBIs in 68 at-bats.He said the tweets were in reaction to news out of Charlotte but that they were worded beyond poorly at best and I can see how and why someone could read into my tweets far more deeply than how I actually feel.I grew up on the streets of Baltimore, a city I love to this very day, Clevenger said. I grew up in a very culturally diverse area of America and I am very proud to come from there..dddddddddddd. I am also proud that my inner circle of friends has never been defined by race but by the content of their character. Any former teammate or anyone who has met me can attest to this and I pride myself on not being a judgemental person. I just ask that the public not judge me because of an ill worded tweet.He will lose about $34,000 in salary through the suspension.The Major League Baseball Players Association, which could challenge the discipline, had no comment.Clevenger had also mocked the civil rights campaign Black Lives Matter in referencing the Charlotte shooting of Scott -- a black man who was killed by police Tuesday -- and the violent protests in the city that have followed.Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black police officer, one of the tweets said, according to Seattle radio station KOMO reporter Jon Humbert, who published screen-grab images of Clevengers account, which was set to private Thursday night. Haha s--- cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the Anthem!In his statement, Clevenger said he hoped not to be judged based on social media posts.I do believe that supporting our First Amendment rights and supporting local law enforcement are not mutually exclusive, Clevenger said. With everything going on in the world I really just want what is best for everyone regardless of who they are. I like many Americans are frustrated by a lot of things in the world and I would like to be a part of the dialogue moving forward to make this a better world for everyone.Information from ESPN senior writer Darren Rovell and The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '