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Pirates complete first sweep in Houston since 1991

Apr 5, 2007 - 4:43 AM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates overcame numerous miscues, but the Houston Astros could not overcome theirs.

The Pirates scored four times in the fifth inning on three errors en route to a 5-4 victory over the Astros.

The bullpen retired 11 of the 12 batters it faced for Pittsburgh, which completed its first series sweep at Minute Maid Park and first in Houston since 1991.

"You come to a place that history suggests we haven't been really good," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "To win three games in this ballpark, but also to play the games the way we played them, and pitch the way we pitched, it's a great way to start the season."

The Astros scored each of their first three runs after the Pirates made defensive miscues, but it could have been much worse. Houston loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth inning but scored just one time, leading Tracy to give credit to starting pitcher Tom Gorzelanny (1-0).

"His back was against the wall," Tracy said. "He nearly got out of it completely unscathed, but to come out of there with just the one run allowed, and to give himself and his teammates the chance to win, that's the difference in the game. We were in that position a number of times last year, especially early in the year, and it didn't work out. We kind of created the situation for him. But you pick one another up when you start to become a good ballclub."

"I thought to myself, if you give up one run, that's awesome and what you want to do," said Gorzelanny, who made his 13th career start. "I don't think anyone would say they'd aim to get out of that situation with no runs. The big thing about the whole inning is, as everyone says, is damage control."

A dropped fly ball by center fielder Chris Burke and two errors by Adam Everett on the same play provided the Pirates a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning.

Ronny Paulino started the scoring in the decisive frame with a run-scoring double - a ball up the center field hill that Burke said he should have caught - off Houston starter Woody Williams with one out and moved to third when Burke dropped a deep fly by Xavier Nady. Jose Bautista followed with a base hit up the middle, plating both.

"I just missed the ball," Burke said. "The first one I should have gotten to, too. I don't know what happened. It was a night to forget."

After advancing to second on a groundout, Williams walked Gorzelanny before departing. Chris Duffy followed against Dave Borkowski with a one-hopper to Everett at shortstop. The ball bounced off his glove and rolled into shallow left-center field. Bautista moved to third base and then scored when Everett fell retrieving the ball and kicked it further into the outfield.

"(Everett) got screened and it kicked up on him a little bit," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "It's just a weird bounce. Sometimes weird things happen." After Gorzelanny departed after yielding three runs and seven hits in five innings, Pittsburgh's vaunted bullpen took over.

Shawn Chacon pitched two perfect innings, Matt Capps tossed a 1-2-3 eighth and Salomon Torres worked around a two-out homer by Craig Biggio in the ninth for his third save in three games. The run was the first by the Pirates' bullpen allowed in 10 innings this season.

"The bullpen was great the whole series," Tracy said. "If that's the way they're going to perform, and you have the resources in front of them to get the ball to them with the lead, you have a real good chance to shape up into a formidable bullpen."

Gorzelanny said his entire starting staff - with an average age of 25 years old - is confident handing the ball over to the bullpen.

"The bullpen was solid," Gorzelanny said. "They were unbelievable. All of us have faith in the bullpen that they'll shut the opponent down."

Williams (0-1), a Houston native who signed in the offseason, was charged with five runs - three earned - and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.

"It was a game that should have been put away," Williams said. "I'm pretty disappointed."

Houston took a 1-0 lead on Carlos Lee's RBI single in the first inning. The inning was helped when first baseman Adam LaRoche failed to throw out Chris Burke on a pickoff. The Astros made it 2-1 when third baseman Jose Bautista misplayed a slow roller by Biggio for a base hit. He eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Lance Berkman.

Jason lane led off the fourth with a bloop down the right field line that second baseman Jose Castillo misplayed for an error. He scored when Burke was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Bautista went 5-for-13 in the series and drove in three runs in this game.

The Astros led in each game, but suffered three losses by a combined four runs.

"This is certainly not the result we were looking for," Houston's Lance Berkman said. "We played horrible. Defensively, we were terrible. Offensively, we didn't capitalize on our chances. We just stunk."