Sept. 5, 2004, 2:26PM
Go figure — 8 straight for Astros
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/CDA/umstory.mpl/sports/2779025

Not too long ago, the Astros would have lost with the mistakes they
made Saturday night at Minute Maid Park.

But they overcame their mistakes and took advantage of the
Pittsburgh Pirates' blunders, extending a season-long winning streak
to eight games with a 6-5 victory.

"We needed to find a way to win," Mike Lamb said, "and we did
tonight."

The victory moved the Astros within two games of the idle Cubs, who
lead the National League wild-card race. Chicago's series at Florida
was postponed because of Hurricane Frances.

After Chad Qualls gave up the tying run in the seventh, Lamb's
double drove in Jeff Bagwell with the go-ahead run in the bottom of
the inning before a crowd of 38,605.

An inning later, reliever Russ Springer overcame errors by Lamb and
Craig Biggio to strand the potential tying run at third.

"You always hear the adage that bad teams find a way to lose and
good teams find a way to win," Lamb said. "Tonight, we made a couple
of mistakes in that eighth inning, but we got out of it.

"Springer did a great job to get out of it. That's what you need.
You need your teammates to pick you up."

The Astros, who have a chance to sweep the three-game series today,
have won 11 of their last 12 games and 16 of their last 19. The
latest victory was even more impressive considering starter Carlos
Hernandez gave up four runs in three innings. Kirk Bullinger, Chad
Harville, Qualls, Springer and Brad Lidge held the Pirates to one
run over six innings of relief.

Jack Wilson gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead with a home run in the first
inning. The Astros countered with two runs in the bottom of the
inning on sacrifice flies by Lance Berkman and Jeff Kent, but Jason
Bay gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead in the third with a three-run homer
off the train tracks behind the Crawford Boxes.

Raul Chavez got the Astros going with a two-out double into the
right-field corner in the bottom of the fourth. Chris Burke, hitting
for Bullinger, kept the inning alive with a five-pitch walk, and
Biggio added a single up the middle. Jose Bautista, playing his
first game in center field, fumbled Biggio's hit, allowing Burke to
score after Chavez to make it 4-4.

"The bottom line is we stepped up when we had to tonight," Astros
manager Phil Garner said. "The thing I really liked (is that) we
took advantage of every mistake they made. They bobbled the ball in
the outfield, and we ended up with an extra base and ended up
scoring a run out of it."

With Jose Vizcaino at second and one out in the sixth, Morgan
Ensberg got in a game for the first time since he strained his back
on Aug. 27. Ensberg hit a pinch-hit double to center field to give
the Astros a 5-4 lead.

After Bautista failed to hit the cutoff man, Ensberg raced to third
on the error. He was stranded after Biggio grounded to third and
Carlos Beltran grounded to first. Jack Wilson's RBI double off
Qualls tied the score at 5 in the seventh, and the Astros countered
in the bottom of the inning to make Qualls (3-0) the winner.

"When we had an opportunity, we took advantage of it," Garner
said. "You're not going to hit four or five home runs every night,
but we took advantage to make it stand up."

Bagwell greeted Pirates reliever Nelson Figueroa in the seventh with
a leadoff triple off the center-field wall. Lefthander Frank Brooks
was called out of the bullpen to face Berkman, who popped up the
first pitch he saw. Brooks intentionally walked Kent to face the
lefthanded Lamb.

The gamble failed. Lamb hit an RBI double off the wall in right-
center, giving the Astros a 6-5 lead and missing a home run by less
than a foot. After Brooks intentionally walked Vizcaino to load the
bases, Garner sent Brad Ausmus to hit for Chavez.

Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon countered with Brian Meadows, who
struck out Ausmus on three pitches and induced a grounder from
Orlando Palmeiro.

Stranding the bases loaded in the seventh almost proved costly to
the Astros in the eighth. Craig Wilson led off and reached on Lamb's
throwing error. One out later, Ty Wigginton singled to left field.
Biggio misplayed the ball, letting Wilson reach third on the error.
Fortunately for the Astros, Vizcaino was alert enough to take
Biggio's throw and zip the ball to Kent, who tagged Wigginton out at
second.

"I looked at Wigginton and saw that he was going to keep going,"
Vizcaino said. "I just tried to get the ball and get rid of it as
quick as I could."

Springer struck out pinch hitter Bobby Hill to end the eighth, and
Lidge handled the ninth for his 20th save.

"When you're not going good, those things turn into three- or four-
run innings," Bagwell said of the two errors in the eighth. "We'll
take what we can get now."

jesus.ortiz@...


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ASTROS SUMMARY

Redding roughed up
Rghthander Tim Redding, who might be called up from Class AAA New
Orleans to start one of the games in the doubleheader at Pittsburgh
on Thursday, gave up eight hits and six runs in four innings on
Friday.

Redding lost 9-1 against Colorado Springs.

Manager Phil Garner hasn't announced starters for the Astros'
Thursday doubleheader at PNC Park.

Brandon Duckworth is another option.


Wells ready to go
Elkins graduate Kip Wells will come off the disabled list today to
start for the Pirates against the Astros.

Wells, 27, has not started since Aug. 13 because of tendinitis in
his right elbow. He is 5-7 with a 4.50 ERA for the season. He lasted
only 4 1/3 innings in his last start, giving up 11 hits and six
earned runs in a 9-3 loss to the Rockies.

"The first time I got semi-injured a few weeks ago pitching against
the Rockies, I was patient to the point I didn't want to come back
until I knew everything was right," Wells said.

"On the other hand, after about a week off, you're thinking, 'How
quickly can I get back out there and start contributing?' Obviously,
I was hoping to get out there maybe a week ago."


Ensberg delivers
Morgan Ensberg was out of the starting lineup Saturday for the
seventh consecutive game because of a joint problem in his back. He
came through with a pinch-RBI double to center field in the sixth
inning that gave the Astros a 5-4 lead.

Ensberg had not played since leaving the Aug. 27 game at Chicago
with back spasms.

"It's a muscular or sprain-type injury," said Ensberg, who was
scratched from the starting lineup Friday. "The toughest part of it
is the location. It's the center of everything. It's not a bad
injury. It's just in a bad spot."


Oswalt throws
Roy Oswalt, who left his Wednesday start after six innings with a
strained left rib cage, threw his regular bullpen session on
Saturday.

Oswalt got a cortisone injection in the rib-cage muscle last week.
He could start Monday or Tuesday against the Reds, depending on his
personal schedule.

Oswalt and wife Nicole are awaiting the birth of their first child.


Scoreboard watching
Phil Garner had been paying close attention to the Marlins and Cubs,
whose three-game weekend series was postponed because of Hurricane
Frances.

"The best scenario is for them to split (the six games they have
left) and for us to continue to win," said Garner. "Bottom line, we
have to win anyway. I think (the postponements) make it tougher on
those two teams. It's tough when you have to play six games and
(three of those are) makeup games."


Coming up
Pete Munro (3-5, 4.92 ERA) will make his 15th start of the season
when the Astros finish their three-game series with Pittsburgh
today. In his last start — Monday at Cincinnati — Munro ended a
three-game losing streak, striking out a season-high six batters in
five innings. Kip Wells (5-7, 4.50) will start for the Pirates.


By the numbers
1:05 — Three of the Astros' next four games start at 1:05 p.m. at
Minute Maid Park.


Did you know?
Since a ninth-inning comeback win over Montreal on Aug. 15, the
Astros are an NL-best 16-3 and have scored 136 runs and hit 35
homers.


Attendance watch
• Saturday: 38,605
• 2004 total (68 dates): 2,574,286
• 2003 total (68 dates): 2,002,251
• Ahead: 572,035
• 2004 average: 37,857
• 2003 average: 29,445


JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
and EMILY DAVIS