Pirates  1    Astros  9

Pittsburgh Pirates (54-84) at Houston Astros (68-72), 8:05 p.m.

Sports Network | September 11, 2009

(Sports Network) - One night after finally ending his 33-game home run drought, Lance Berkman and the Houston Astros will try to extend the Pittsburgh Pirates' 11-game road losing streak in the opener of a three-game series at Minute Maid Park.

Berkman connected on a three-run homer in Thursday's 9-7 loss to the Atlanta Braves, the first time he has gone deep since July 9. The 33-year-old had connected on 108 home runs over his previous three seasons, including 29 last year, but Thursday's homer was just his 19th of the year.

Berkman, who also spent time on the disabled list since hitting his July home run, went 5-for-12 in the three-game set versus Atlanta, though the Astros lost two of those contests after beginning their 10-game homestand with a four-game sweep of the Phillies.

"Yeah, he's swinging the bat better," Houston manager Cecil Cooper said of Berkman. "I've said all along that when he's hitting the ball to left-center, that's his stroke."

The Rice product is batting .302 with a homer and seven RBI in 12 games versus the Pirates this year.

Tonight's starter for Houston, Bud Norris, also hopes that Berkman has found his power swing. The rookie won his first three career starts before dropping his next three and pitching to a 13.11 earned run average over that skid. Norris snapped that slide on Sunday versus Philadelphia, getting the win by yielding two runs over six innings in a 4-3 victory.

The 24-year-old righty, who has never faced Pittsburgh, improved to 4-3 with a 6.05 ERA. He owns a 7.23 ERA in four home starts.

Norris will try to extend the recent misfortunes of the Pirates, who have lost 12 of their last 13 games to ensure themselves a record 17th straight losing season. They were just swept in three games by the Cubs and dropped Wednesday's finale, 8-5.

Ronny Cedeno hit a three-run homer for Pittsburgh, while Kevin Hart was tagged in the loss for six hits and four runs and walked six over five frames.

"Even though it wasn't a pretty outing, it was encouraging," Pirates manager John Russell said of Hart's performance. "We just have to get that arm slot in a position to get him more swings and misses on the fastball,"

Pittsburgh is just 18-50 on the road this year and hasn't won as the guest since August 11 in Colorado.

Charlie Morton takes the hill for the Pirates and has lost five of his last six decisions, including his last outing on September 1 versus the Reds. The right-hander allowed six runs on nine hits over five innings, then had this start pushed back a few days to rest a sore groin.

Morton is 3-7 with a 5.43 ERA this year and has struggled on the road, where he is just 1-4 with a 7.99 ERA and allowed 29 runs in 32 2/3 innings.

The 25-year-old is 0-1 with a 9.90 ERA in two career starts versus the Astros, getting that loss on July 8 after allowing five runs and 10 hits over four innings of work.

The Astros have won eight of 12 against the Pirates in 2009, taking four of the six matchups between the teams at home so far this year.