Williams, Astros blank Pirates

Baseball Betting Lines

07/22/2007 - Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Luke Scott singled home the only run of the game and Woody Williams pitched eight innings of five-hit ball, as the Houston Astros earned a 1-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the rubber match of a three-game set at PNC Park.

Brad Ausmus had two hits for the Astros, who won a road series for the first time since June 8-10 against the Chicago White Sox and concluded a nine-game road trip to start the second half of the season with a mark of 3-6.

Williams (5-11) surrendered a double and four singles while striking out three and not issuing a walk. He has won two of his last three decisions and improved to just 2-8 in 13 road starts this season.

Brad Lidge worked around a two-out single by Adam LaRoche in the ninth to earn his third save. After LaRoche's base hit, pinch-runner Rajai Davis advanced to second on a wild pitch, but Lidge struck out Xavier Nady to end the game.

Matt Kata had two of Pittsburgh's six hits. The Pirates have lost eight of nine since the All-Star break.

Shane Youman (2-2) was the hard-luck loser, yielding just four hits and one run with two walks and three strikeouts in eight strong innings.

The Astros managed only a Hunter Pence single in the first and a Mark Loretta walk in the fourth against Youman before breaking through in the sixth.

Ausmus led off the sixth with a base hit and advanced a base each on a pair of groundouts. Scott, who replaced the injured Pence in the fourth inning, then singled to center field to score Ausmus.

Pence left the contest with a sprained right wrist, which he appeared to hurt while swinging the bat in the top of the fourth.

Scott had another chance to drive in Ausmus, who had singled with one out in the eighth and took second on a bunt by Williams, but Youman fanned him for the third out.

The Pirates wasted a one-out double by Kata in the first, then couldn't take advantage of Kata's leadoff single in the fourth when LaRoche grounded into a double play. A mild threat developed in the fifth on singles by Jason Bay and Cesar Izturis, but Youman popped out to end the inning.

Game Notes

Williams improved to 8-4 lifetime against Pittsburgh...Houston moved one-half game ahead of Pittsburgh into fourth place in the NL Central...The time of the game was a swift 2:11.

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