NL RECAP SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Jose Lima continued to show he is among the National League's elite pitchers. Facing only three batters above the minimum, Lima worked eight strong innings to win his eighth straight start and help the Houston Astros avoid a three-game sweep with a 4-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Lima (8-1) became the NL's first eight-game winner, allowing a leadoff home run to Marvin Benard in the bottom of the first but little else. He scattered two singles and a double the rest of the way, walking two and striking out two. "Every time I go out there, I feel like we have a great chance to win the game," Lima said. "I don't worry about any kind of streak, I just wanted to go home today with a good feeling." Unbeaten since his first start of the season on April 8, Lima lowered his ERA from 2.98 to 2.76. Billy Wagner tossed a hitless ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances. Jeff Bagwell took care of the offense with a three-run homer that snapped a tie in the seventh inning. Houston wrapped up a 3-3 road trip and improved to an NL-best 11-2 when facing lefthanded starters. Rookie Joe Nathan (2-1) surrendered Bagwell's home run after erratic starter Shawn Estes gave up one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings with six walks and seven strikeouts. Four Giants' pitchers walked eight batters, three of whom scored. "All of their runs were directly related to walks," said San Francisco manager Dusty Baker. "We battled them all the way. It was a tremendous pitchers' duel between Shawn and Jose for six innings. Lima got the best of him today." San Francisco had a three-game winning streak stopped. Benard gave the Giants an early lead with his third career leadoff homer. But Estes' control problems finally caught up with him in the sixth. Russ Johnson and Bagwell started the inning with walks before Derek Bell fouled out. Richard Hidalgo singled home Johnson with the tying run and Estes exited after walking Carl Everett. Jerry Spradlin escaped further trouble by striking out Tony Eusebio and retiring Tim Bogar on a foulout. Nathan replaced Spradlin to start the seventh but inherited Estes' control problems. After walking Lima and Craig Biggio, he struck out Russ Johnson but served up Bagwell's 14th homer on a full-count pitch. Bagwell has 23 career home runs against San Francisco. "I was having a bad day up until that point," he said. "I struck out with a runner on second in the firrst inning and then I struck out into a double play in the third. But that's baseball. You just keep hanging around and hoping for something good to happen. I'm relieved the way things ended up." "I couldn't throw strikes today," Nathan said. "I fell behind on Bagwell, but he hit a good pitch at his knees. I'm not as upset at that as walking the two guys before him." --=-=-- 