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LaRoche helps Pirates outlast Astros

Aug 25, 2007 - 6:08 AM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates' offense finally decided to wake up.

Adam LaRoche drove in four runs and sparked a huge 15th-inning rally as the Pirates posted an 8-3 victory over the Houston Astros in Friday's series opener.

With the game tied at 3-3, Nate McLouth drew a leadoff walk and stole second after reliever Shane Youman bunted foul with two strikes for a strikeout. Freddy Sanchez reached on third baseman Mike Lamb's fielding error to set up LaRoche's three-run homer off Travis Driskill (0-1), who was making his first major league appearance since 2005.

"I knew I hit it all right, but I also knew they were playing back and I thought they'd catch it," LaRoche said. "But it found that little corner."

"You can't ask anybody to anything more than these guys did," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said. "There were so many different aspects. There were so many big moments, and every time either our pitching staff came through or we got a big hit."

Three batters later, Carlos Maldonado lofted a sacrifice fly, and Jose Castillo followed with an RBI single to left to cap the uprising.

"That's the role they brought me up here to do, to pitch more than two innings at a time if that's need be," Driskill said. "It's unfortunate I made a bad pitch. Actually I started off with a walk, that's something I can control."

Youman (3-4) tossed two scoreless innings for the win. He struck out the final three batters after loading the bases.

"I couldn't tell you how I did it," Youman said.

The 15th inning was the third time in extra innings that the Astros left the bases loaded.

"I think I've said it more than my fair share this year," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "We had a lot of chances and missed them. We didn't make contact a few times. We just didn't make it happen."

Pirates starter Ian Snell gave up three runs and six hits with six strikeouts in seven innings. The righthander failed in his attempt to win consecutive games for the first time since May.

The Pirates forced extra innings when Xavier Nady delivered his second career pinch homer in the ninth off Astros closer Brad Lidge, who blew his sixth save opportunity of the season.

"(Nady) is just a good hitter," Lidge said. "It wasn't necessarily a bad pitch, but he reached out there and got it."

LaRoche and Jack Wilson each registered run-scoring singles against Houston starter Matt Albers as Pittsburgh improved to 6-1 in its last seven outings.

Mark Loretta had an RBI groundout and Eric Munson added a run-scoring single during a two-run seventh against Snell to help Houston grab a 3-2 advantage.

Albers gave a solid effort, yielding two runs - one earned - and six hits in seven innings while striking out six without a walk. The righthander labored early but retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced.

"The first couple of innings were real rough," Albers said. "The fastball was working pretty good down, and fastballs and curveballs down in the zone, too."

All-Star Carlos Lee opened the scoring for Houston in the second with his 27th blast, slicing the deficit to 2-1.