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Berkman powers Astros past Cardinals

Aug 30, 2008 - 3:48 AM By Ted Dunnam PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- For as many big hits as Lance Berkman has collected in his career, a walk-off home run has been absent from the list. On Friday, he finally added it.

Berkman blasted a solo homer with one out in the ninth inning to propel the Houston Astros to a 3-2 triumph over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The All-Star's 27th blast of the season came off former Astro Russ Springer (2-1), who recorded only one out after a superb performance by Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse.

"It was a fastball away," Springer said. "I threw the ball away where I wanted to, but he put a good swing on it. It never crossed my mind it was going out of the park. I thought it would either be off the wall or caught deep. It managed to find a short box over there. That's how it works."

Berkman took the landmark homer in stride.

"If you think about it, it's just in passing, like, 'Oh, that'd be nice to hit one one of these days,' " Berkman said. "I'm sure if you play long enough, you're going to. Everybody, it seems, has one little thing in their statistical career that might make you scratch your head.

"Some guys never hit a grand slam. It's just one of those things, and I'm just glad to get the zero off there."

Berkman guessed Springer might go away with the pitch.

"He threw me two pitches in, which I knew he was probably going to try to work me in," Berkman said. "And then 2-0, I was kind of cheating on a fastball inside."

Lohse tossed eight brilliant innings, allowing two runs and seven hits while striking out six and walking one. He had the opportunity to set a career-high in wins with his 14th, but one mistake cost him.

Hunter Pence legged out a grounder for an infield single with two outs in the seventh, and David Newhan followed with a two-run homer to pull the Astros even at 2-2.

"I felt like I was in control all night," Lohse said. "I happened to make one bad pitch, and it cost us the lead. The bottom line is that we lost the ballgame."

Lohse said Newhan's home run is indicative of his recent misfortune.

"It was supposed to be a sinker and it was the only one that cut," Lohse said. "You respect everybody. He did a good job of getting that one hit. You don't take anybody for granted. They'll make you pay."

"Sometimes in this game, there's no justice," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "(Lohse) pitched outstanding. I don't think he made a mistake today. We just couldn't get him enough runs so he could avoid some baseball luck against him."

Doug Brocail (6-5) tossed a scoreless ninth to notch the victory.

In the fourth, Ryan Ludwick reached on Houston starter Randy Wolf's throwing error and Troy Glaus walked before Yadier Molina's ground-rule RBI double gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead.

The Cardinals doubled the advantage in the sixth, when Nick Stavinoha led off with a ground-rule double and scored two batters later on Ludwick's sacrifice fly.

Wolf worked six innings, allowing two runs and three hits with a walk and a strikeout.

"This is, probably since I've been here, the best I've thrown," Wolf said. "I was able to command my pitches today. There were a couple times where I got into trouble. But for the most part, I feel a lot better about today."