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Sampson, Astros offense pound Cardinals

Jun 3, 2007 - 1:20 AM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- All Chris Sampson asked for was a little run support by his Houston Astros teammates and he would do the rest.

Sampson pitched eight effective innings and the Astros hit three homers Saturday in an 8-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Carlos Lee hit a two-run homer and Adam Everett and Luke Scott each added solo shots for Houston, which has won two of three following a 10-game losing streak.

Sampson (5-5) allowed three runs, six hits and a walk.

"I started off a little rocky," Sampson said. "My control wasn't there as much as I'd like it. Then I settled down and found the control later in the game."

St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols grounded out four times as Sampson baffled Cardinals hitters in the lower portion of the strike zone.

"He kept the ball down," Pujols said. "I think he got six outs on ground balls in the sixth and seventh innings. You just try to take advantage of his mistakes. Today, he didn't make that many."

"I had the good sinker working today," Sampson added. Starting in the fourth or fifth inning I was able to put it where I wanted it and get a good consistent sink on it."

It was a good start to June for the rookie righthander, who was just 1-4 in five May starts and backed by a mere five runs in those contests.

The Astros have scored 19 runs in their last three games compared to just 20 during their 10-game slide.

Houston trailed, 2-1, with two outs in the second inning when Everett belted the first pitch by Kip Wells over the left field wall.

After the Cardinals took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Gary Bennett, The Astros broke open the game in the next three innings. Rookie Hunter Pence hit a two-run double and Adam Kennedy followed with an RBI groundout in the fifth for a 5-3 lead.

"Pence hit a fastball that was a jam-shot, and it went where it wasn't supposed to go," Wells said.

"The team came together today," Pence said. "We had a lot of timely hits. As a whole team, we just got out there and competed today."

Pence had two hits and is hitting .421 (16-of-38) in his last 10 games with eight multi-hit contests.

Scott led off the sixth with his fifth homer to make it 6-3 and Lee blasted his 11th homer off reliever Kelvin Jimenez in the seventh to complete the scoring.

"We played a really good game today," Lee said. "We did what we're supposed to. We got key hits at the right times."

"Everett hit very well today," Astros manage Phil Garner said. "Pence had a nice bases-loaded hit. Carlos is still doing a super job. My goodness."

Lee drove in three runs to push his season total to 52, moving past Detroit's Magglio Ordonez (50) for the major league lead.

"Every game is a big game," Lee added. "You can't go out there and expect to win them all, but you've got to at least put yourself in a good position to win ball games."

Wells (2-10) surrendered six runs - five earned - and seven hits with three walks in five-plus innings to become the first pitcher with 10 losses.

"I felt really responsible for the result today," Wells said. "Ultimately, it's about making the pitches, and I didn't make enough good ones."

The righthander has lost six straight road games and nine of 10 overall.

"I don't necessarily feel I should be 2-10, but it's about executing pitches and I'm not doing that," Wells added. "If I knew exactly what was wrong, I would have fixed it."

Ryan Ludwick had two hits for St. Louis, which had its three-game winning streak snapped.