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Berkman's double lifts Astros over Red Sox

Jun 29, 2008 - 4:22 AM By Gene Duffey PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Lance Berkman began the night by striking out in his first three at-bats against the Boston Red Sox, but he finished the evening with two hits and three RBI - doubling in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Houston Astros to an 11-10 victory on Saturday.

With two outs and runners at first and second, Berkman sliced a double into left field to score Darin Erstad and Hunter Pence, giving the Astros an 11-9 lead.

"That happens once in a while," Berkman said. "I strike out a hundred times a year, so three is not anything insurmountable. One major difference was (Boston starter Jon) Lester was off the mound."

The Astros entered the bottom of the seventh down 9-6, but scored twice off reliever David Aardsma on Berkman's RBI single and a passed ball by Jason Varitek.

Manny Delcarmen came out the of the Boston bullpen in the bottom of the eighth to protect the one-run lead, but could not do his job. Ty Wigginton led off with a homer to tie the game, his fifth. A single by pinch-hitter Erstad, a sacrifice and a walk to Pence set up Berkman.

"I don't think I've ever faced him before," Berkman said of Delcarmen. "I didn't know what to expect. He threw me a good changeup the first pitch and I swung at it. I figured he'd come back to (the changeup)."

Delcarmen (0-2) did and Berkman knew what to do with it.

"The pitch to Berkman was a good pitch," Delcarmen said. "My velocity was there. It's kind of tough, but in baseball it happens. I didn't feel any different today than I have lately."

It was not a good night to be pitcher - with the teams combining for 27 hits and 21 runs - unless you were Houston's Doug Brocail (3-3), who pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win.

"That was like a playoff game for me," Houston manager Cecil Cooper said. "That's what I've been screaming about for two weeks, we need to get some clutch hits."

Cooper pointed out the importance of Pence walking ahead of Berkman. Pence's run turned out to be the winner after Mike Lowell's solo homer in the top of the ninth off Houston closer Jose Valverde, who picked up save No. 20, brought Boston back within one.

"Hunter's at-bat was as big as any," Cooper said. "He's usually up there swinging and he was real patient."

"That's kind of a small stat in the game," Pence said of his walk. "I was trying to calm myself down. I worked the count, finally."

The Red Sox struck for four runs in the third, all with two outs off starter Brandon Backe. Dustin Pedroia, who had four hits, singled, J.D. Drew walked and Manny Ramirez doubled home two runs. Lowell, who also had four hits and a sacrifice fly, doubled in Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis singled in Lowell.

"He was pretty good until he hung the breaking ball to Manny," Cooper said of Backe. "He came back and shut them down in the fourth and fifth."

"I ran into trouble in the third and left some balls up," Backe said. "Luckily, our offense was really good tonight and got me out of trouble right away."

The Astros answered with five runs in the bottom of the inning, Backe starting the rally when he got hit by a pitch, Carlos Lee adding a two-run single and Mark Loretta ending it with a three-run homer off Lester to put Houston on top 5-4.

"That was a huge hit in the game," Berkman said of Loretta's homer. "You feel a lot different about the game (being ahead)."

"That was a good time in the old ballpark tonight," Loretta said. "Lately when we've been down, it seems it's been deflating. We came back twice (tonight)."

Miguel Tejada singled off Lester's heel just one pitch before Loretta's homer.

"It kind of knocks you for a loop," said Lester, who was visited by the trainer on the mound. "But I was fine then. You've got to tip your hat to Loretta. He was looking middle in and I threw the ball right there."

Cooper decided to juggle his lineup to generate more offense, dropping Miguel Tejada from third to fifth in the order and moving Berkman up to third and Lee from fifth to clean up.

"I didn't notice until I went out for batting practice and (Cooper) said you're hitting third," Berkman said.

Lee hit his 18th homer in the fifth, his third hit of the game for a 6-4 Astros lead against Lester, who suffered through his worst start of the season - allowing nine hits and six earned runs in five innings.

The Red Sox went back to work in the sixth, scoring five runs that included Jacob Ellsbury's triple off Pence's glove in right and a two-run double by Youkilis to go ahead 9-6.

"We fought back through all the mishaps to get a three-run lead," Boston manager Terry Francona said. "But we just couldn't hold it. We made some mistakes out over the plate, and they hit every one of them."