PITTSBURGH - Just as he has during nearly all of his 150 career victories, Andy Pettitte stood at the clubhouse door and greeted his teammates as they left the field.
Only instead of shaking the hands of Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter, he was embracing Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. His uniform didn't have Yankees pinstripes, either, but the brick red of his hometown Astros.
Welcome back, Andy Pettitte.
Pettitte came off the disabled list to breeze through the Pirates lineup, allowing one hit over six innings before his bullpen finished Houston's 2-0 victory Thursday.
"It's exciting to be able to get my first win as an Astro and, obviously, it's a nice milestone to get No. 150 in my career," Pettitte said. "It's special, but I didn't think it would take this long to get one."
Pettitte hadn't pitched in 23 days because of a strained left elbow, yet he looked just like the pitcher who won 21 for New York last season and has averaged nearly 17.
"That's the Andy that everybody knows," teammate Jose Vizcaino said.
The left-hander quickly settled into a rhythm, something he didn't do in a 7-5 loss to the Giants on April 6 in his Astros debut. Raul Mondesi was the lone Pirate to reach against him, drawing a walk in the first and hitting a ground-ball single up the middle in the third.
"You don't win 20 games because you're lucky," said Mondesi, a teammate last season in New York. "He's tough when he makes pitches like he does today. When he's throwing that hard breaking ball and cutter and staying in the zone, he's real tough."
It was classic Pettitte, with Pirates hitters flailing at his assortment of pitches after falling behind in the count. He struck out three and walked one and thought he could have gone one more inning.
After waiting nearly a month to see his $31.5-million pitcher throw again, manager Jimy Williams wasn't about to take a chance.
"He wasn't laboring and he felt strong, but we took it out of his hands," Williams said. "It was our game plan and we stayed with it."
CARDINALS 5, PHILLIES 4 (13): Jim Edmonds homered to lead off the 13th as St. Louis averted a three-game sweep.
Edmonds hit an 0-and-2 pitch from Amaury Telemaco, entering his fifth inning of relief, over the rightfield wall for the sixth game-ending homer of his career.
The Cardinals improved to 4-9 at home after going 48-33 last season. They avoided their worst start at Busch Stadium since going 2-11 in 1969.
Tony La Russa became the second manager to win 700 games with two teams, joining Sparky Anderson. La Russa won 798 with Oakland from 1986-95.
Ricky Ledee's second pinch-hit homer of the season, a two-run shot off St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen with one out in the ninth, tied it.
MARLINS 4, GIANTS 3: Barry Bonds asked his way into the lineup, then hit his 668th home run, giving the six-time MVP and his late father, Bobby, a total of 1,000. But visiting Florida hit three homers of its own, with Mike Lowell connecting for a tiebreaking shot off Felix Rodriguez in the ninth.
PADRES 2, EXPOS 1: David Wells pitched seven effective innings for his first win with host San Diego, and Khalil Greene had a go-ahead double in the seventh as the Padres completed a four-game sweep of Montreal for the first time since both teams joined the majors in 1969.
METS 6, DODGERS 1: Jae Seo pitched into the seventh and Karim Garcia hit a two-run homer for visiting New York. Seo (1-3), who had won just one of his last eight decisions dating to Aug. 31, held the Dodgers to one run on six hits in 61/3 innings.
