HOUSTON (AP) -- It doesn't seem to matter how well Jose Lima pitches, he still loses.

	Lima

"This is the way my luck has been going all year," Lima said. "I'm a little disappointed that I pitched better and it was good for nothing because we didn't win."

Lima (1-8), on the longest losing streak of his career, hasn't won since beating Pittsburgh on April 5 in his first start of the season. He didn't allow a home run for only the third time in 12 starts, but that wasn't enough.

With Houston leading 1-0, Jacque Jones and Midre Cummings singled leading off the eighth, Denny Hocking sacrificed and Yorkis Perez relieved.

Cristian Guzman's grounder scored Jones with the tying run, Matt Lawton doubled for a 2-1 lead and David Ortiz followed with an RBI single.

"Lima was great," Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "The only thing, he was throwing his changeup 80 percent of the time and by the third time around, their hitters were getting used to it."

Johan Santana (1-2) got his first major league win, allowing three hits in five innings, including Ken Caminiti's RBI double in the third.

Eddie Guardado, Minnesota's fourth pitcher, got three outs for his third save in as many chances, completing a six-hitter. The Astros dropped to 21-36, the worst record in the NL.

"We are embarrassing," Lima said. "We can't be in last place. We've been winning our division. But now, we're making so many mistakes."

Astros catcher Tony Eusebio thought Lima deserved a batter fate.

"He pitched a great game, he had good command of his changeup and his fastball," Eusebio said. "It was just bad luck for him. I've been catching him three-four years and I don't see any difference between this year and last year."

It was just the second time in 30 games at Enron Field that both teams failed to hit any home runs. The other was an April 9 game against Philadelphia. There have been 105 homers at Enron this year, 13 short of last season's total in the Astrodome.

"Balls just don't fly in the Dome the way they do here," Eusebio said. "Here, you can't make too many mistakes."

Minnesota starter Eric Milton was bruised on his left lower leg when hit by Craig Biggio's liner leading off the first. Milton left after the second inning and the Twins said he was day to day.

"It hurts, but I don't think it's broken," Milton said. "Unless it continues to hurt I'm not going to have any X-rays. I should be ready for me next start.

Manager Tom Kelly made the call.

"I didn't think it affected my pitching and I told him that I wanted to go back out there," Milton said, "but he thought about it and said if something was wrong, he didn't want to be responsible for it."

Lima, 21-10 last season, retired his first 10 batters and didn't allow a hit until Lawton's fourth-inning single. Ortiz singled leading off the seventh.

In all, Lima was charged with two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings.

Moises Alou returned to the Astros' lineup in left field after missing eight games with a tight left quadriceps. He went 1-for-4 with a second-inning double.

"I felt good, but unfortunately, I couldn't make things happen," Alou said. "Lima pitched a great game but we have nothing to show for it."

Game notes
Lawton leads the Twins with 21 multihit games. ... The four runs matched the fewest at Enron (Colorado's 3-1 win May 8). ... Perez allowed both inherited runners to score after allowing one of his first 11 this year. ... Lima had his longest outing of the season and allowed his fewest hits.