Pirates Sweep Away Astros

The Houston Astros began the weekend series arguing among themselves and ended it three losses later by disagreeing with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Kris Benson survived a two-run first inning, then held Houston to one hit over the next seven innings and drove in two runs himself as the Pirates swept the Astros with a 7-3 victory Sunday.

The three-game sweep was the Pirates' first over Houston since May 14-16, 1991, and came three weeks after the Astros swept Pittsburgh in three games in the Astrodome.

Houston could have dropped Pittsburgh 10 games out of the NL Central with another sweep. Instead, the Pirates cut the lead to four games.

"We beat the top team in our division," said Kevin Young, 3-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. "We really wanted to go out and prove something to ourselves."

"We know we can play with anybody," Jason Kendall said.

Apparently, the Astros weren't convinced. Carl Everett, 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a sacrifice fly, said it was more a case of the Astros playing badly than the Pirates playing well.

"We had no offense, no defense, nothing. If we're playing well, that team shouldn't beat us," he said. "It was all us. We didn't play like we should."

The Astros, whose three starting pitchers began the series with a combined record of 20-5, have lost four in a row for the first time since July 10-13. The losing streak matches their longest in the last two years.

Houston came into the series off a 4-2 loss to Colorado and manager Larry Dierker's criticism of the offense. That, in turn, led an irritated Craig Biggio to suggest that if Dierker wasn't happy, he should bat himself first.

Neither the Astros' offense nor their disposition improved in Pittsburgh.

"The only thing I can say about this game and this series is the pitching stunk, the hitting stunk and the defense stunk," losing pitcher Mike Hampton said. "That's why we lost today ad why we got swept. Overall, it was just terrible."

The worse the Astros got, the better Benson did.

Benson (4-3), No. 5 in the rotation when the season started but currently their most dependable starter, allowed three hits and struck out seven in eight innings in his first career start against Houston.

Afterward, Benson was disappointed he didn't finish. He retired the final 13 hitters he faced but was lifted after throwing 117 pitches.

Richard Hidalgo homered with two outs in the ninth off Brad Clontz for Houston's first hit since the second inning.

"I would have been glad to go back out. I definitely wanted to finish it," Benson said. "It would have been great to finish up a complete game."

The pitcher also put down a successful suicide squeeze in a four-run second inning and later had an RBI grounder, despite missing a bunt sign.

Mike Benjamin's three-run double keyed the Pirates' big second inning against Hampton (5-2), the second Houston pitcher in the series to lose for the first time since the opening week of the season. Jose Lima (8-2) also did so Friday.

Hampton had won five in a row since losing to the Cubs on April 7, including a 6-0 shutout of Pittsburgh on May 10. He was 4-0 with an 0.82 ERA with two shutouts in his previous four starts against the Pirates and hadn't lost to them in five starts since Aug. 21, 1996.

But, facing a lineup stacked with nine right-handed batters, Hampton yielded seven runs, five earned, on 10 hits and walked three in 4 2-3 innings his shortest start since the Cubs' loss.

The Pirates, trailing 2-0, loaded the bases in the second on Kevin Young's single, Jason Kendall's force-play grounder, Jose Guillen's single and shortstop Russ Johnson's error on Turner Ward's grounder.

Benjamin, who began the season 1-for-26, then lined a 1-2 pitch down the left-field line to score the three runners.

"That was the key at-bat," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said. "If he pops up or strikes out, Benson's up next with two outs and we probably don't score."

Benjamin scored when Benson put down a perfectly placed suicide squeeze bunt. Benson's RBI grounder following Benjamin's bloop double in the fourth made it 4-2 and startled baserunner Jose Guillen. Benson was supposed to bunt again on a 3-2 pitch, but swung away as Guillen charged down the line.

"Somebody missed a sign, and guess who missed it?" Lamont said. "I doubt he'll ever do it again."

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