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Rays-Astros Preview

May 23, 2010 - 3:04 PM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Tampa Bay (31-12) at Houston (15-28), 2:05 p.m. EDT

David Price is pitching the way the Tampa Bay Rays expected when they made him the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2007.

The 24-year-old left-hander looks to become the AL's first seven-game winner when the Rays conclude an interleague road series with the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Price (6-1, 1.81 ERA) allowed one run and four hits in six innings of a 6-2 win over Cleveland on Tuesday to win his fourth straight decision. Now in his second season as a full-time starter, Price is 9-1 with a 2.35 ERA in his last 12 starts dating to last season.

"I feel like there's still room for improvement. I feel like I've left some stuff out there that I shouldn't have," said Price, who's 4-0 with a 1.03 ERA in his last five starts. "If you probably would have asked me at the beginning of the season, I'd have took it."

Price, who's making his first appearance against the Astros, is 1-2 with a 5.60 ERA in interleague play.

He looks to help the AL East-leading Rays (31-12) to a second consecutive victory after they evened this set with a 4-2 win Saturday night. Tampa Bay has won nine of 11, and at 18-5 it's off to the best road start since Boston won 19 of its first 23 road games in 2002.

"Our team is playing good right now," Price said. "Let's keep it going."

A pair of Houston natives helped lead the Rays to victory Saturday. Carl Crawford had four hits and Jeff Niemann threw seven solid innings as Tampa Bay overcame two errors to win for the first time in five tries at Minute Maid Park.

Crawford is batting .354 with 10 runs scored in his last 11 games. He's 10 for 29 during his career against his hometown Astros.

"I train (in Houston), so it's still home for me," Crawford said. "This is the root of everything. Everything started for me here."

Lance Berkman homered for the fifth time and had two of the five hits Saturday for the Astros (15-28), who couldn't build on a 2-1 victory in Friday's opener and lost for the seventh time in nine games.

Berkman's batting .233 for a Houston team that's wasted some solid pitching while being outscored 39-22 over its last nine contests.

"Our pitching has been holding us up for a while," said center fielder Michael Bourn, who's hit safely in six straight games. "We just couldn't scuffle another run in the end."

Bourn will miss this contest as he serves a one-game suspension following a confrontation with first base umpire Alfonso Marquez in the Astros' 2-1 loss to San Diego on May 8.

Despite taking a line drive off his pitching arm in his last outing against Los Angeles, Bud Norris (2-5, 6.75) will make his interleague debut for the Astros on Sunday.

"I flexed at the last second," Norris told the Astros' official website. "If it hit me square in the elbow, it would have been trouble, but I was pretty fortunate."

The right-hander wasn't as fortunate on the mound, giving up six runs in 4 1-3 innings of a 7-3 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday.