HOUSTON — Craig Biggio is not going to go away quietly.

Hours after announcing that he will retire at the end of the season, Biggio hit a grand slam in the sixth inning, snapping a tie and sending the Houston Astros to a 7-4 victory over the Dodgers on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.

Biggio's slam, his second of the season, came on the first pitch he saw from Dodgers reliever Rudy Seanez. It touched off a standing ovation from the 38,247 in attendance that didn't end until he jumped out of the dugout to take a curtain call.

"We have a lot of respect for what this guy (Biggio) has done in his career," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "It was a pretty action-packed day for him, and he was the difference in the game. He's made the difference in a lot of games throughout his career."

The Dodgers took a 3-1 lead into the sixth inning, but starter Mark Hendrickson was pulled after giving up a leadoff single to Lance Berkman and a ground-rule double to Carlos Lee.

Seanez replaced Hendrickson and was greeted by a tying double by Morgan Ensberg. Seanez loaded the bases but was unable to get a slider past Biggio, whose slam gave the Astros a 7-3 lead.

The slam came one pitch after Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt paid a visit to the mound. All the coaching staff could really do after that was laugh it off and start focusing on tonight's series finale.

Honeycutt jokingly said that he told Seanez to "throw it and see how far he can hit it." In actuality, Honeycutt went to the mound to give Seanez a bit of a break.

Seanez didn't stick around to talk to the media after Tuesday's game, but at 38 years old, he might be starting to show signs that his 47 innings pitched this season are beginning to catch up to him.

Seanez has allowed five home runs in his last 423 innings.

"The guy has been worked hard, but you still go with what you have when you go out there so you have to make a quality pitch," Honeycutt said. "I think it would affect an inexperienced guy a little bit more. I think an experienced guy knows himself better. He's got the experience against the hitters.

"Over a long season, you're going to have stretches like these, and you're not going to be sharp at times. We're going to make bad pitches. We're human beings, and that's going to happen. He gave it the best effort he had tonight, and he came out on the wrong side of it."

The Dodgers' offense reverted to its early-season habit of being impatient at the plate, which was good for Astros starting pitcher Jason Jennings.

Jennings needed seven pitches to get five outs in the fourth inning and part of the fifth. He coasted through the sixth inning on nine pitches.

The Dodgers scored three runs in the second inning against Jennings, but he retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced in his other five innings. Jennings' improved to 2-6 while snapping a five-game losing streak.

"What was done to us in the middle part of the game hasn't happened to us in awhile," Little said.

"We need to get back into that mode and see if we can go forward."

Notes: Kent has 333 homers as a second baseman, best in the majors. Ryne Sandberg is second at 277. ... The Astros have six grand slams this season, one short of the club record set in 2001. ... Kent has reached base safely in 35 straight games, best in the majors this season. Loney ran his string of reaching base safely to 28 games with his second-inning double. ...Derek Lowe pitches for the Dodgers in the series finale today.