HOUSTON—Carlos Lee drove in three runs and the Houston Astros turned a dramatic double play to end a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.

The Phillies loaded the bases off Doug Brocail with one out in the ninth inning. Shane Victorino flew out to Darin Erstad in left and Erstad threw a perfect throw to catcher Brad Ausmus, who tagged out Pedro Feliz at the plate.

Brocail and Berkman embraced Ausmus as the crowd cheered and Erstad sprinted in from the outfield to join the celebration. Erstad entered the game at the start of the inning as a defensive replacement for Lee.

Brocail earned his second save in as many chances. Houston manager Cecil Cooper gave Jose Valverde the night off after Houston’s usual closer was struck in the face with a line drive by Feliz on Friday. Valverde recovered and finished the game for his 15th save.

Brian Moehler (2-1) gave up four hits with three strikeouts in six innings, his best outing in four starts since he replaced injured Wandy Rodriguez in the Astros’ rotation. Rodriguez has been on the disabled list since April 20 with a strained groin.

Mark Loretta added a pinch-hit RBI single for the Astros, who’ve won 12 of their last 15 home games.

Ryan Howard had an RBI double and a two-run homer for the Phillies.

The Astros scored all four runs off Philadelphia starter Brett Myers (2-6), who gave up eight hits with four walks and two strikeouts.



Indians 5, Rangers 2

CLEVELAND—Cliff Lee bounced back from his only poor outing this season and Ben Francisco hit a three-run homer to help Cleveland snap its seven-game losing streak.

Lee (7-1), was not as sharp as he when he compiled an 0.67 ERA and 6-0 record in his first seven starts. He gave up two runs and seven hits over 6 2-3 innings, striking out eight with a season-high three walks.

That was better than his previous start Sunday in Cincinnati, when the Reds tagged him for five earned runs and 10 hits over 5 2-3 innings.

Francisco, robbed of a three-run homer by an umpire’s blown call Friday night, left nothing to chance by hitting a 2-2 pitch from Scott Feldman (1-2) well over the wall in left for his second homer to put Cleveland ahead 4-2 in the third inning. On Friday, he hit a ball that TV replays showed cleared the wall, but the umpires ruled it in play and Francisco got only an RBI double.

Francisco has hit safely in 14 of his last 18 games, going 23-for-62 (.371) with 11 RBI.

Rafael Perez pitched 1 1-3 perfect innings of relief and Joe Borowski worked the ninth for his third save. Borowski, activated Friday after spending five weeks on the disabled list with a strained right triceps, gave up a two-out single to Michael Young and got Josh Hamilton on a long flyout to left to end the game.

Lee yielded single runs in each of the first two innings.

He fanned struck out Ian Kinsler to open the game, yielded singles to Young and Hamilton, then struck out Milton Bradley. David Murphy singled home Young before Lee came back to fan Gerald Laird.

In the second, Marlon Byrd doubled and Chris Shelton drew a walk. Lee struck out German Duran, yielded an RBI single to Kinsler, then fanned Young and got Hamilton to line out to short.

Francisco doubled and scored on an error in the bottom half to get Cleveland within 2-1.

Jhonny Peralta hit his ninth homer in the Cleveland sixth off Feldman, who allowed five runs and six hits over six innings.