Lance Berkman celebrated his return from the disabled list Wednesday by driving in a run in each of the first two innings, and Houston went on to halt Florida's five-game winning streak.
The Marlins fell back into a second-place tie with streaking Atlanta, 4 1/2 games behind division-leading Philadelphia in the National League East.
Houston took early control with a five-run first. Three of the runs came on Pence's first homer and another when Berkman doubled home Michael Bourn. Berkman had missed 18 games due to a strain of his left calf.
Pence highlighted a seven-run fourth inning with his second homer, giving Houston a 13-3 lead. Carlos Lee drove in three runs and helped make an easy winner out of Bud Norris.
Norris improved to 3-0 in three career starts. He lasted five innings, giving up four earned runs on 10 hits.
Ricky Nolasco (8-8) coughed up 10 runs on eight hits in just 3 1/3.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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