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Oswalt sharp again as Astros down Dodgers

Aug 14, 2007 - 7:00 AM By Chris Padula PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Roy Oswalt continued his dominance to lead the Houston Astros to a 4-1 victory over the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday.

Jason Lane homered and Lance Berkman had a pair of hits for the Astros, who have won five of their last seven games.

Oswalt (13-6) has won his last five decisions dating to July 20 and has only allowed three earned runs in his last 33 innings pitched. Oswalt's ERA of 0.81 since July 15 leads the National League.

"It's been a nice little streak I have going, and just hope I can keep it going and help our team win games," Oswalt said.

The ace righthander pitched eight strong innings, allowing one run, giving up six hits, walking two and striking out three. Oswalt made it through the eighth inning for the first time since May 2.

"It was good to get some runs early and let me pitch my game," Oswalt said. "I walked more guys than I wanted to, but I made quality pitches when I had to.

With Astros closer Brad Lidge unavailable after pitching in five of the last six games, Chad Qualls came in to pick up his third save of the year with a scoreless ninth.

"Our bullpen had depth tonight, but we just wanted to give Brad (Lidge) the night off," Astros manger Phil Garner said. "We know we can count on Qualls to come in and do a good job."

The Dodgers have lost seven straight series and 10 of their last 13 games. The offense, which failed to add a bat at the trading deadline, has only managed to score 27 runs in that span.

"Right now we are just struggling to get guys on base and come up with that big hit," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "We just hope we can snap out of this soon."

Houston got to Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (7-4) in the fourth inning when Eric Bruntlett scored on Chris Burke's groundout to make the score 1-0.

"I missed my spots and left balls up and you just can't do that against any team," Billingsley said. "I have to come back and work hard, and just keep battling."

Billingsley lasted five innings, allowing four runs and six hits while walking four and fanning seven. The 23-year-old righthander has now lost his last four decisions and five of his last six.

"I did manage to strike some people out tonight, but I made a lot of pitches," Billingsley said.

The Astros tacked on three more runs in the fifth when Berkman doubled to lead off the inning and came around to score when Luke Scott singled to make it a 2-0 game. Lane followed with a two-run homer for a 4-0 lead.

"Luke came up with a big hit to add on another run for us," Lane said. "It was nice for me to adjust and make an adjustment and come up with a big hit."

The Dodgers' lone run came on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Rafael Furcal in the fifth that scored Juan Pierre to make it 4-1. Pierre recorded three of the Dodgers' six hits.

"Were just not doing our jobs," said Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent, who is in the midst of an 0-for-22 slump. "It's easy for you guys to write about this when you are up in the press box."