Taveras, Berkman trash Pirates

Monday, August 28, 2006 Houston's 13-1 victory was the Astros' third consecutive win in the series. PITTSBURGH (AP) — Willy Taveras has quite a streak going. Now he'd like to see the defending NL champion Houston Astros get on one, too. Taveras ran his hitting streak to 30 games during another excellent all-around game and Lance Berkman drove in four runs, helping the Astros rough up the Pittsburgh Pirates 13-1 Sunday for their third consecutive win. Berkman, in a 5-for-45 slump before getting six RBIs in the final two games of the four-game series, hit a three-run homer in the fifth following a run-scoring single in the first. Taveras singled to start the game and extend the longest hitting streak in team history. Did some damage After the Pirates won the series opener Thursday, Berkman effectively beat them in three consecutive games to help get the Astros out of a slide in which they lost 10 of 13. Berkman homered to support Roger Clemens' 5-1 victory Friday, then had a two-run double to key a 7-4 victory Saturday. Berkman also could have easily had another hit, but shortstop Freddy Sanchez was given an error for not handling a sharply hit grounder up the middle that scored Mike Lamb during a three-run third. "Usually when he drives in a bunch of runs, we score a bunch of runs," manager Phil Garner said. Taveras began each of the final three games of the series with hits during the second longest hitting streak in the NL this season to Chase Utley's 35-game run for the Phillies. "It kind of blows me away a little bit, but nothing is easy," Taveras said. "The way the team is winning some ballgames, I'm real happy about that." His numbers Taveras reached base on hits or walks 10 times in the series and stole four bases. He is 45-of-129 (.349) during his hitting streak, getting hits in his first at-bat 14 times. "The pressure's off then, so I hope I can get it every time in the first at-bat," he said. "I'm not thinking that much about it, it's hard to give a hit in every game that you play. But now I'm into it, I want to get a hit." The Pirates assured themselves of a 14th consecutive non-winning season with their 81st loss, looking exactly like the last-place team they are with one of their worst-played games of the year. They made two errors, repeatedly made poor pitches in key situations and let Taveras and Berkman generate runs nearly every time they batted. "Obviously, it wasn't a great day," manager Jim Tracy said. "We didn't pitch well early in the game ... and then the game got out of hand and completely got away. But this is an aberration, with what we've been up to in the second half of the season." On the brink Not compared to the Pirates' history since the early 1990s, it isn't. With one more loss, they will be two losing seasons away from tying the Phillies' major-league record of 16 in a row from 1933-48. If only the Astros could play the Pirates more often. They are 10-3 against them and have managed their only two modest winning streaks this month — one of four games, the other of three — mostly against the Pirates. That four-game run Aug. 8-11 included a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh in Houston. "We have to carry this home and keep it going," Garner said as the Astros finished up a 6-5 road trip. "We've got a little something going for us right now." Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.