Astros’ Fall From First Is Short-Lived

Lance Berkman hit a three-run homer, and Wade Miller pitched a one-hitter for six innings as the Houston Astros ended a four-game losing streak Saturday with a 5-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

Jeff Kent homered for the second consecutive game for the Astros, who dropped out of first place in the Central Division on Friday night for the first time since July 7.

But by the next afternoon, Houston was back in front of the Chicago Cubs, who lost to the Dodgers earlier Saturday.

“One thing about this sport is there’s always tomorrow -- unless it’s the last game of the season,” Houston slugger Jeff Bagwell said. “We were out of it for 12 hours. It’ll make it a lot better if we can find a way to win tomorrow.”

Miller (10-10) overcame control problems to win his third straight start and improve to 6-0 in 11 games against the Reds.

Rick White yielded a run in the seventh and Octavio Dotel worked a scoreless eighth. Billy Wagner got the final three outs for his 35th save.

Seth Etherton (0-1) gave up six hits and five runs in five innings in his first major league appearance since Aug. 4, 2000, for the Angels at Cleveland. The former USC star was acquired by the Reds in December 2000, but a series of arm injuries kept him from pitching in the majors.

“He threw the ball well,” Cincinnati interim Manager Dave Miley said. “The long ball hurt him. If you leave Berkman a pitch like that, he’ll hurt anybody.”

Kent led off the second with his 17th home run. Miller singled and scored on Bagwell’s sacrifice fly in the third for a 2-0 lead.

Morgan Ensberg singled and Bagwell walked with one out in the fifth. After Kent flied out, Berkman lined a fastball into the right-field seats for his 22nd homer of the season.

“One pitch,” Etherton said. “If there was any such thing as a mulligan or a do-over in this game, I’d take it. It got a little more of the plate than I wanted, and he hammered it.”