PITTSBURGH _ Roy Oswalt held the Pirates to one run over six innings to continue his strong second half and backup catcher Brad Ausmus drove in two runs to lead the Houston Astros beat Pittsburgh 6-2 today.

Miguel Tejada had three hits and drove in a run as the Astros took two of three in Pittsburgh to win a series for the first time since Hurricane Ike forced them to move an important series against the Cubs to Milwaukee the previous weekend. Houston lost six of seven after that to all but fall out of the NL wild-card race.

Oswalt (16-10) couldn't match the three-hit shutout he pitched against the Pirates on Sept. 11, but still won his 10th in 12 games. He has lost only twice since the All-Star break and his 27-8 (.771) record in September and October is the second-best in the majors since 1900, based on a minimum of 25 decisions.

And not many pitchers can say they passed Babe Ruth, but Oswalt did that — his winning percentage is .002 better than Ruth, who was 20-6 (.769) as a pitcher before becoming an outfielder. The only better September-October record than Oswalt's was by Sam Leever (43-12, .782), according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Oswalt — 13-6 in his career against Pittsburgh — gave up two hits in the first three innings, but faced the minimum nine batters because of two double plays. He ran his streak of consecutive innings pitched facing the minimum number of Pirates batters to 12, as all three batters who got hits Sept. 11 were erased by double plays.

That streak ended in the fourth, and the Pirates finally got to Oswalt in the fifth on rookie Luis Cruz's two-out RBI double.

The Astros led 4-0 before then on Lance Berkman's RBI double and Geoff Blum's sacrifice fly in a two-run third against Ross Ohlendorf (0-3). Tejada singled and Blum doubled in the fifth ahead of Ausmus' two-run single. Ausmus, a .216 hitter, hit .400 against the Pirates and had five of his 22 RBIs against them.

Geoff Geary and LaTroy Hawkins each pitched a scoreless relief inning before the Pirates scored once in the ninth against Wesley Wright.

The Pirates played the final home game of their record-tying 16th consecutive losing season, finishing 39-42 at PNC Park — the seventh time in eight seasons they didn't have a winning record there.

Notes: Despite winning, Houston left 13 on base a day after stranding 10 in a 6-4 loss on Saturday night. The Astros were 7-for-34 with runners in scoring position in the final two games. ... The Pirates' coaches are under contract for 2009, but GM Neal Huntington said it hasn't been decided if manager John Russell's entire staff will return. ... Pirates SS Jack Wilson singled as a pinch-hitter in the fifth, possibly his last home at-bat. He received a standing ovation. The most-tenured Pirates player, he could be traded during the offseason. ... The Pirates' home attendance of 1,609,076 in 80 dates was their second lowest since PNC Park opened in 2001 and represented a drop of 140,066 from last season; the lowest was 1,583,031 in 2004. They averaged 20,113, or about what they drew Sunday (20,311). ... Houston won six of the final seven against Pittsburgh to split the season series at 8-8. ... Pirates 1B Adam LaRoche left in the eighth with a sore left hamstring.