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Astros hope to keep hot bats going

May 16, 2007 - 2:20 PM San Francisco (19-19) at Houston (19-19) 8:05 pm EDT

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Unthinkable just over two weeks ago, Carlos Lee and rookie Hunter Pence appear to be leading the once-dormant offense of the Houston Astros out of the doldrums.

Lee, Pence and the Astros look to continue their recent scoring surge in the middle game of a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants at Minute Maid Park on Wednesday.

The two outfielders combined to go 7-for-7 with three home runs, five RBI and five runs scored in the Astros' 6-5 extra-inning victory in Tuesday's series opener. Lee's solo homer in the bottom of the 10th - his second of the game - gave Houston its ninth win in 13 games.

The Astros have outscored their opponents, 68-47, in that stretch to improve to .500 for the first time since they were 9-9 on April 23.

Lee, who was hitting just .253 at the time of Pence's promotion from Class AAA Round Rock on April 27, has since lifted his batting average to .317 while blasting four homers and knocking in nine runs over his last seven games. Likewise, the 24-year-old Pence is batting .310 (18-for-58) with three homers and 14 RBI in 15 games since his call-up.

The Astros will send rookie Matt Albers (1-2, 5.47 ERA), who is coming off his worst outing of the year, to the mound.

After earning his first major league win with 7 1/3 innings of three-hit ball in a 13-0 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 5, the 24-year-old righthander was charged with seven runs in three innings of a 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday.

Albers, who had a 5.67 ERA in 39 2/3 career innings dating back to last season, has never faced San Francisco.

The Giants have dropped five of their last seven games follow Tuesday's setback. They look to regain their dominance at the Astros' home park behind Noah Lowry (4-3, 3.18), who is starting against a team he has dominated. The lefthander is 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA in three career starts against the Astros.

Even with Tuesday's loss, San Francisco had won 20 of its previous 26 games here, where Barry Bonds is a career .393 (22-for-56) hitter with six home runs in 21 games. Bonds, though, went 0-for-2 with two walks on Tuesday, and is just 1-for-13 (.077) in his last five games overall without a home run.

He remains 10 homers shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755.