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Berkman, Astros breeze past Pirates

Sep 10, 2008 - 4:57 AM By Ted Dunnam PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Lance Berkman has been part of some heroic late-season surges with the Houston Astros before, so what the team is doing now does not surprise him.

Berkman belted his 28th home run and led a 15-hit attack as the red-hot Astros defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-3, for their fourth straight win Tuesday night.

Berkman hit a three-run homer in the first inning off Ross Ohlendorf (0-1) and added a run-scoring double in the third as the Astros won for the 12th time in their last 13 games.

Berkman's home run followed one-out singles by Darin Erstad and Miguel Tejada. In the third, Erstad and Tejada each singled to start the inning and Berkman ripped a double to right for a 4-2 lead, giving Berkman 100 RBI for the sixth time in his career.

"Those are certainly good individual marks," Berkman said. "You come into every season with goals, at least I do. I feel if I can hit certain numbers, then I'm doing my part to help the team win."

Erstad, Berkman and Tejada each had three hits for Houston (78-67), which remains in the hunt for the National League wild card. It currently sits four games behind the Milwaukee Brewers (82-63), who lost for the seventh time in nine games Tuesday.

Berkman and teammates are well-aware of their situation as the playoff race tightens.

"You can't help but know," Berkman said. "We watch games in here anyway all season long. We'll pay attention, but we just have to take care of business and if they lose, they lose."

David Newhan, Hunter Pence and Geoff Blum added RBI for the Astros.

Randy Wolf (10-11) pitched seven effective innings, allowing four hits and three runs while striking out four.

"The start was a little rocky, but I kind of settled down as the game went on," Wolf said. "The biggest thing today was where the offense was."

The Pirates took the lead in the first inning as Ryan Doumit singled home Nate McLouth, who had walked and advanced to second on a groundout. Adam LaRoche then doubled home Doumit for a 2-0 cushion for the Pirates.

After the Astros had taken a 5-2 lead, they tacked on another run in the fourth on an RBI double by Erstad and two more in the fifth, courtesy of an RBI triple by Blum and a run-scoring single from Newhan.

An RBI double by Pence in the sixth, which required the use of instant replay for the second time since it was put in place on August 28, gave the Astros a 9-2 lead.

Pence lined a 2-2 offering from Jesse Chavez off the top of the wall in right field, which was ruled a double by first base umpire D.J. Reyburn. After the umpiring crew met near the pitcher's mound, crew chief Tim Welke left the field and quickly returned, upholding the decision.

Pittsburgh 's Steve Pearce hit his first major league home run in the seventh inning off Wolf.

"I saw two changeups and got my pitch," Pearce said. "It took a while, now it's off my back. It felt good."

In his second major league start, Ohlendorf allowed nine hits and six runs in four innings.

"I didn't feel like I consistently made pitches I needed to," Ohlendorf said. "I got into bad counts and put the ball over the middle of the plate. I need to locate my pitches better."