GAME THREAD: NL: PITTSBURGH (66-81) at HOUSTON (63-84)

Seven-run fourth lifts Astros past Pirates

<h3>HOUSTON 9, PITTSBURGH 7</h3>By Ted Dunnam
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Carlos Lee homered and drove in three runsduring a seven-run fourth inning to lead the Houston Astros toa 9-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.

Ty Wigginton homered twice - a two-run blast in the fourthinning and a solo shot in the seventh - for the Astros, whosnapped a three-game slide.


After the Pirates jumped to a 5-0 lead with a run in the secondand four more in the fourth, Houston responded in the fourth.

Lee led off the frame with his 29th homer off Pittsburgh starterMatt Morris (9-10) and rookie Hunter Pence followed with asingle. Wigginton came to the plate two batters later andcontributed to Morris' misery, blasting a two-run shot to cutthe deficit to 5-3.


J.R. Towles followed with a single and pitcher Juan Gutierrezreached on a fielder's choice before Josh Anderson singled tomake it a one-run game. Craig Biggio loaded the bases with asingle and Morris hit Lance Berkman to force in the tying run.

Salomon Torres relieved Morris and allowed a two-run single toLee boost his RBI total to 109 on the season and give the Astrosa 7-5 cushion.


Morris was charged with seven runs and nine hits while walkingtwo and not recording a strikeout in 3 1/3 innings - marking the<div class="pre">first time since joining the Pirates that he failed to last at</div>least five innings.


Ronny Paulino and Jack Wilson hit consecutive home runs in thesecond inning to stake Pittsburgh to a 5-0 lead. Wilsoncompleted his first multi-homer game in the eighth.

Houston scored a single run in the fifth and Wigginton's soloblast in the seventh provided some insurance.


Gutierrez (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a walkand no hits, to pick up the win in relief of starter WandyRodriguez.


The Astros used seven pitchers in the contest, with Brad Lidgegetting the final three outs to record his 15th save of theseason.

 

Seven-run fourth lifts Astros past Pirates

<h3>HOUSTON 9, PITTSBURGH 7</h3>By Ted Dunnam
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer




HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Carlos Lee homered and drove in three runsduring a seven-run fourth inning to lead the Houston Astros toa 9-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday night.

Ty Wigginton homered twice - a two-run blast in the fourthinning and a solo shot in the seventh - for the Astros, whosnapped a three-game slide.


"Hitting is contagious," Lee said. "You get a walk here and abase hit there and things start rolling.


"This is what this team is capable of doing."


After the Pirates jumped to a 5-0 lead with a run in the secondand four more in the fourth, Houston responded in the fourth.

Lee led off the frame with his 29th homer off Pittsburgh starterMatt Morris (9-10) and rookie Hunter Pence followed with asingle. Wigginton came to the plate two batters later andcontributed to Morris' misery, blasting a two-run shot to cutthe deficit to 5-3.


J.R. Towles followed with a single and pitcher Juan Gutierrezreached on a fielder's choice before Josh Anderson singled tomake it a one-run game. Craig Biggio loaded the bases with asingle and Morris hit Lance Berkman to force in the tying run.

Salomon Torres relieved Morris and allowed a two-run single toLee boost his RBI total to 109 on the season and give the Astrosa 7-5 cushion.


Morris was charged with seven runs and nine hits while walkingtwo and not recording a strikeout in 3 1/3 innings - marking the<div class="pre">first time since joining the Pirates that he failed to last at</div>least five innings.


"I don't know what my record is here coming into this game,"Morris said. "But when you are up 5-0, your job is to go outthere and try to get them to hit some pitches and take your teamdeep into the game. I was not able to do that tonight, and Iam disappointed."


Morris did not blame his ineffectiveness on his pitching hand,which was injured by a line drive off the bat of Pence in thefirst inning.


"I was hit on the back of the hand, and I just got done withX-rays. They were negative," Morris said. "I was going offadrenaline in the game, and I think they wanted to ice it downduring the game, but I just wanted to keep it going.

"It just didn't work out tonight."


Ronny Paulino and Jack Wilson hit consecutive home runs in thesecond inning to stake Pittsburgh to a 5-0 lead. Wilsoncompleted his first multi-homer game in the eighth.

"It doesn't matter," Wilson said about his two-homer effort."It's nice to try to get back in the game at that point. Thatis the only good thing that I can take from it right now.

"It was nice to get within two right there (9-7 in the eighth).But if you don't win, it's just a stat really."


Houston scored a single run in the fifth and Wigginton's soloblast in the seventh provided some insurance.


"First and foremost, you have to point toward the bullpen,"Wigginton said. "They all did a great job and gave us a chanceto get back in it."


Gutierrez (1-1) pitched two scoreless innings, allowing a walkand no hits, to pick up the win in relief of starter WandyRodriguez.


The Astros used seven pitchers in the contest, with Brad Lidgegetting the final three outs to record his 15th save of theseason.


"I loved what I saw in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh fromthe bullpen," Houston interim manager Cecil Cooper said. "Thoseguys had a lot of electric stuff.


"Offensively, when you get a little fire from the younger guys,it carries over to the other guys."