Astros roll past Bucs, 13-4

Jeff Kent led Houston's offense with four hits and five RBIs.
HOUSTON (AP) -- Throughout the Houston Astros' early struggles, Lance Berkman was confident the offense would come around.
"You can't look at this lineup and say we are a below-.500 team. There's too much talent here. We knew it was just a matter of time before we broke out," Berkman said after Houston beat Pittsburgh 13-4 on Wednesday night for its sixth straight win.
Jeff Kent had four hits and five RBIs, and Geoff Blum singled home the go-ahead run during a four-run seventh.
Houston, which overcame a five-run deficit to win 10-9 Tuesday night, trailed 2-0 after three innings. Berkman drove in four runs for the Astros, who set a season high for runs for the second straight night and moved over .500 for the first time since April 23.
"Now we've got our offense going and we know in any given inning we can put up five or six runs," Berkman said.
Kent raises average
Kent went 4-for-5 and raised his average to .328 with a two-run homer in the sixth, a run-scoring single in the seventh and a two-run double in the eighth.
"Hitting is contagious," Kent said. "I think this game is based on rhythms. The pitching gets in a rhythm, and the hitting and defense does. Good things are happening for us right now."
Houston's Nos. 2-5 hitters -- Morgan Ensberg/Blum, Jeff Bagwell, Kent and Berkman -- combined to go 10-for-16 with 13 RBIs.
"It's infectious," Blum said. "When you come back to win a couple of games like this, you start to ease off that panic button a little bit and get a little more confidence. Things are going good right now."
But not for the Pirates, who have lost five straight.
"It's a combination of us not playing well and them playing well," Brian Giles said. "They are hot right now and everything is going their way."
Pittsburgh's Salomon Torres made his third start since replacing injured Josh Fogg in the rotation April 26 and gave up four runs and five hits in 51/3 innings.
Pirates strand 10 runners
Pittsburgh stranded 10 runners, including eight in the first four innings.
"He started off good," manager Lloyd McClendon said. "Then he started elevating the ball. You look up after five innings and you've got 10 guys left on base. We had the bases loaded twice with one out. We had opportunities to break the game open with a few key hits."
Blum's pinch-hit single put Houston ahead 5-4 in the four-run seventh. Bagwell and Kent followed with run-scoring singles off Julian Tavarez (0-2), and Berkman hit an RBI groundout against Dennys Reyes.
Blum added a two-run single in the eighth off Reyes, and Kent greeted Joe Beimel with his double. Berkman followed with a sacrifice fly.
Aramis Ramirez's two-run single put Pittsburgh ahead in the third.