HOUSTON -- Pirates manager John Russell shrugged his shoulders.

He then shook his head softly side-to-side.

He shrugged his shoulders again.

Finally, Russell gave up looking for the reason.

"It is just one of those things," he said before last night's game against the Houston Astros.

Russell is far from the only one with a gold 'P' on his hat who hasn't been able to figure out starting pitcher Mike Hampton -- it goes back all the way to 2000.

And last night at Minute Maid Park it continued, as the Pirates stumbled, 4-1, against the Astros with Hampton earning the victory with a three-hit performance over seven innings.

The win gave Hampton his 10th consecutive victory against the Pirates.

But wait, there's more.

Hampton's penchant for punching out Pirates hitters has carried through his play with four teams -- Houston, Atlanta, Colorado and the New York Mets -- and his last loss against the Pirates came on Aug. 13, 1999 during his first stint with the Astros.

Hampton is the first pitcher since Robin Roberts to post at least 10 win in a row against the Pirates; Roberts won 15 consecutive starts against the team from 1951-53.

A lefthander with the wicked sinker and looping curveball who rarely throws a straight fastball and forces batters to beat the ball into the ground, Hampton puzzled the Pirates for the fourth time this season. He improved his record to 5-5 overall, but in games against the Pirates this year, Hampton is 4-0 with an ERA below 0.90.

Things might have been drastically different had the Pirates taken advantage of their best chance, and funny thing is, it came right out of the gate, in the first inning.

The Pirates wasted a chance to get to Hampton early, and, in truth, they weren't so much done in by Hampton's left arm, but a would-be rally was thwarted by a fabulous defensive play he made.

Hampton uncharacteristically walked the first two batters --- Andrew McCutchen and Jack Wilson -- to begin the game and looked to be in a bit of a hole. Delwyn Young, who got the start in left field for the Pirates, then hit a rocket right back at Hampton that was headed directly at the pitcher's head.

In what was equal parts self-defense and defensive gem, Hampton plucked the line drive from the air for the first out and doubled off Wilson for the second out, helping him get out of the inning.

After Hampton snared the liner in the top of the first -- providing the defense -- his teammate Geoff Blum pitched in with the offensive pop in the bottom of that inning.

Blum gave Hampton a 2-0 cushion when he hammered a Virgil Vasquez changeup to deep right field. Garrett Jones gave chase, leapt into the air and the ball ricocheted off his forearm at the base of the wall.

In fairness, had Jones made the catch, it would have been a tremendous play.

Instead, the ball bounced free and off the top of the wall for a triple, bringing in Miguel Tejada who had earlier doubled and Lance Berkman, who had drawn a walk previously in the inning.

The play was reviewed by the umpiring crew as, after it hit Jones, the ball bounced precariously near the yellow line atop the wall (which would have made it a three-run homer) but after a second look the initial call stood.

Vasquez held the Astros scoreless from there until the fifth, when he committed one of the deepest transgressions in the game -- he walked the pitcher to leadoff the inning.

And the Astros made him pay.

After Hampton's walk, Michael Bourn beat out a bunt single to the right side, putting runners at first and second with none out. That set the stage for Tejada's second double of the night, this one just inside third base, that brought home both baserunners to up Houston's advantage to 4-0.

The Pirates' lone run came in the seventh when Robinzon Diaz laced a single to right -- his second hit in the game -- that scored Jones, who led off the inning with a drive off the base off the right centerfield wall that went for a double.

Houston manager Cecil Cooper shut Hampton down after the seventh, and after he threw 96 pitches, making way for LaTroy Hawkins who worked the eighth and Jose Valverde, who slammed home Houston's win in the ninth.