Astros Continue Surge in NL Central

Monday, September 25th 2006, 10:13 pm

By: News On 6

PHILADELPHIA (AP) _ Pinch-hitter Mike Lamb's infield single drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, lifting the Houston Astros to their sixth straight victory, 5-4 over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.

The Phillies (82-74) dropped into a tie with Los Angeles for the NL wild-card lead. Both teams have six games remaining in the regular season _ all on the road.

The surging Astros (78-78) entered 3 1/2 games behind NL Central-leading St. Louis. Houston swept a four-game series against the Cardinals last weekend to cut the gap.

Jimmy Rollins hit a two-run homer off Dave Borkowski to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead in the sixth, but the Astros answered against a trio of relievers in the seventh.

Rick White got one out before walking Morgan Ensberg. Matt Smith (0-1) entered and struck out Lance Berkman, but walked Luke Scott and Chris Burke. Pinch-hitter Orlando Palmeiro followed with a tying, two-run single to left off Geoff Geary. Burke went to third on the play when left fielder Pat Burrell's throw home skipped past catcher Mike Lieberthal for an error.

Burke scored the go-ahead run on Lamb's sharp single off second baseman Utley's glove. Utley dove to his left to stop the ball, but couldn't control it.

Borkowski (3-2) allowed two runs in one inning, but got the win. Chad Qualls retired his only batter, pinch-hitter Chris Coste, to leave a runner on third in the eighth. Dan Wheeler pitched the ninth for his eighth save, getting Utley on a game-ending popup that left Ryan Howard on deck.

Houston used nine pitchers in a game that was scheduled to make up a Sept. 5 rainout.

After falling behind 2-1, the Astros tied it at 2 on Jason Lane's solo shot with one out in the sixth off Phillies starter Randy Wolf. Lane lined one into the seats in right-center for his 15th homer.

But Rollins drove his 25th homer into the seats in right-center to put Philadelphia ahead.

Rollins pointed to teammates in the dugout as he began his jog around the bases and earned a curtain call from the sellout crowd of 44,688 at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies scored two runs off Wandy Rodriguez in the fifth. With the crowd chanting ``M-V-P!'' and standing the entire at-bat, Howard ripped a single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch to score two runs, giving the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Ensberg's sacrifice fly in the fifth drove in the first run.

Philadelphia left the bases loaded twice. Lieberthal fouled out to catcher Humberto Quintero to end the fourth and Burrell hit a shallow fly to right in the sixth.

The Phillies play three games at Washington and Florida, while the Dodgers have three games in Colorado and San Francisco. If the teams finish tied, a one-game playoff would be played next Monday in Philadelphia.

Chris Sampson made his second career start for the Astros, lasting 3 2-3 innings and allowing three hits.

Notes: It was the 17th sellout of the season for the Phillies, pushing the final attendance to 2,701,815, the third-highest total in team history. ... Howard, who leads the majors with 58 homers, tied Chuck Klein (1929) for fourth place on the club's single-season list for RBIs with 145. ... Wolf remained 4-0 and hasn't lost since May 4, 2005, a span of 18 starts. The Phillies fell to 13-3 in his last 16 starts.