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Astros eye winning streak in South Beach

Jul 7, 2011 - 3:12 PM (Sports Network) - The Houston Astros go for a rare win streak tonight when they visit Miami to open a four-game series with the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.

The Astros, who have the majors' worst record at 30-58, avoided a road sweep at Pittsburgh on Wednesday night when Bud Norris tossed seven strong innings and the bats awoke late to pull away with a 8-2 win over the Pirates.

Norris (5-6) allowed just two runs on seven hits as Houston halted five-game losing streak. The club has won just three times in the last 16 games.

The Astros are last in the five-team National League Central Division and have won just 16 of 41 road games in 2011. They've won multiple games in a row just four times in the season's first three months.

Left-hander J.A. Happ gets the call on the mound for Houston with a chance to end a drought that stretches back to May 14 and has now included nine consecutive starts.

He defeated the New York Mets, 7-3, to improve to 3-4 on the season, but has since gone 0-6 while giving up five runs or more five times and exiting before six complete innings five times as well.

Houston has lost each of his last nine starts and is 3-14 in games he's pitched.

Happ defeated Florida, 7-1, for his initial win of the season on April 10 and is 2-1 against the Marlins in seven career appearances.

He'll be opposed by 21-year-old southpaw Brad Hand, who'll make the fifth start of his big-league career while still seeing win No. 1.

The Minneapolis native, a second-round pick of the Marlins in 2008, debuted with a strong six-inning appearance - one hit, one run allowed - in a 1-0 loss to Atlanta on June 7 in Miami.

He's subsequently not lasted past five innings in three more starts and has given up a combined 13 hits and 10 runs in 19 innings.

Hand has lost both of his home starts, but has held opposing batters to just a .171 average across 11 innings in those outings.

On Wednesday, Mike Stanton tattooed a Danys Baez curveball over the left-field wall in the 10th inning, giving the Marlins a 7-6 victory over the Phillies in the finale of a three-game series.

Stanton, who had been homerless since June 11, slammed Baez's offering with a thunderous swing that sent the hanging breaking ball into the vacant seats in left, snapping Florida's seven-game losing streak to Philadelphia.

The home run salvaged the series and gave the Marlins just their second win in 17 games decided by one run. Edward Mujica (6-2), Florida's fifth arm out of the bullpen, threw a perfect 10th to earn the win.

Logan Morrison had a two-run homer, while Hanley Ramirez went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI for the victors.

Florida has won two of three from the Astros this season.