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Rodriguez, Berkman help Astros pound Rockies

Jul 1, 2007 - 11:13 PM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Wandy Rodriguez continues to impress at home and the Houston Astros won a series for the first time in two weeks.

Rodriguez pitched seven strong innings and Lance Berkman drove in four runs as the Astros posted a 12-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies in Sunday's finale of a four-game series.

The latest win gave Houston its first series win since sweeping the Seattle Mariners here from June 15-17.

Rodriguez (5-7) improved to 4-2 at home this season and lowered his earned run average at Minute Maid Park to 2.13. The lefthander allowed just three hits and walked two while striking out four.

"I just feel really comfortable at home for some reason," Rodriguez said through a translator. "I thought I had really good control of my pitches today and it was nice to get a nice lift like that from the offense.

"I didn't feel like I was very comfortable at first, but when I got there I settled in. I don't think I was that good in the beginning, but I think I got better and better as the game wore on."

Berkman continued his recent tear with a two-run double off Rodrigo Lopez (4-2) in the fourth and a two-run homer - his 14th of the season and third of the series - in the sixth. Berkman's 408-foot shot to center was his first while batting righthanded this season.

"This was a good series for us," Berkman said. "We hit well from the beginning and we gave ourselves a chance to score a lot of runs with the pressure we put on their pitching.

"As for me, I know I have to keep this up and just keep it going. I know my timing is better, so we'll see where it goes."

Luke Scott hit his 10th homer and drove in three runs for the Astros, who will continue a season-long 11-game homestand this week against the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets.

Rookie outfielder Hunter Pence went 4-for-5 with a double and three singles, raising his average 10 points to .340 in 238 at-bats. He scored three runs and tied his career high with his fourth four-hit game of the season.

The Rockies, meanwhile, finished a disastrous road trip that saw them go 1-9 against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Chicago Cubs and Houston. In their previous 17 games, the Rockies had gone 13-4 to get over .500 after starting the season 25-30.

Colorado fell to 0-8 in all-time series at Minute Maid Park and has not won a set at Houston since taking two of three at the Astrodome from April 28-30, 1995. They fell to 22-44 all-time at Houston.

"I think their guys (the Astros) just hit our guys and our guys just didn't hit theirs," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "When you don't score runs and you don't get hits, there is not much else you can do."

Lopez gave up six runs in four innings, falling apart after getting through the first two innings on 26 pitches. He surrendered eight hits and walked three without recording a strikeout.

"I think throwing from the stretch, I had a hard time keeping the ball down today," Lopez said. "In the early innings, I felt like I had good stuff. But when they got guys on base, it was hard to get the ball down. I got behind in counts and started getting all those hits.

"They made me throw a lot of pitches in the third and fourth innings and I was out of the game."

Colorado has now lost its last two starts with Lopez on the mound after winning the previous six.

The Astros opened the scoring in the third inning, getting two runs behind just one hit.

Lopez walked Brad Ausmus and Rodriguez to start the inning and Rodriguez scored after Pence hit a double down the line in right. After an intentional walk to Berkman to load the bases, Carlos Lee hit a sacrifice fly to center to plate Chris Burke.

Lee tied the Astros' franchise record for most sacrifice flies in a season with 13. He now shares the record with Jeff Bagwell (1992) and Ray Knight (1982) and has the rest of the season to shatter the mark.

Houston scored four times in the fourth capped by the two-run double by Berkman down the right field line. Burke, who started at second base to give Craig Biggio the day off, also singled and scored in the inning.

"We just have to win all of our series from this point on," said Mark Loretta, who was the only starting position player who did not record a hit. "We took three of four from these guys and that is hard to do against anybody.

"It's still too early to scrap the season. We just have to keep winning."