• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Oswalt finally dominates as Astros edge Phillies

Apr 17, 2008 - 3:51 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - The game featured two struggling starters, but it was Roy Oswalt who found the perfect antidote in facing the Philadelphia Phillies.

Oswalt allowed only one run in seven strong innings and former Phillie Michael Bourn hit a solo home run as the Houston Astros edged the Phillies, 2-1, on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Oswalt (1-3) was coming off an outing where he allowed a career-high eight earned runs in four innings. On Wednesday, the righthander surrendered five hits with four strikeouts and two walks to improve to 6-1 lifetime against Philadelphia.

"Roy was, for me, vintage Roy today," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "He had a nice breaking ball today. He hadn't had his breaking ball in the first three outings he had this year. When Roy is like that, he can be tough."

Oswalt, who threw 65 of his 92 pitches for strikes, concurred with his manager.

"My biggest problem in my last start at Florida was I didn't have a breaking pitch," Oswalt said. "I had to throw a lot of fastballs and guys were right on it. If I can keep my curveball, I'll be all right.

"(My) last start was just terrible. Hopefully, I can turn it around and get going. Tonight, I felt better and I wasn't overthrowing. Threw some good pitches when I needed to."

Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick (1-2) was the hard-luck loser, also tossing seven solid innings. He gave up two runs on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

"I've been working on attacking the strike zone and keeping the ball down," Kendrick said. "Tonight, I worked quicker. It was all mental with me. We'll win most games like this."

The second-year righthander lasted just 2 1/3 innings in his last start, yielding seven runs - one earned - while walking six batters.

"(Kendrick) showed last year that he's very durable and can handle the workload," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

The score was tied 1-1 in the fifth inning when Kendrick made his only mistake of the game. After getting the first two outs, Bourn drove an 0-1 offering off the foul pole screen in right for a home run to give the Astros a 2-1 lead.

"It was a great pitch by (Kendrick)," Bourn said. "I just happened to get my hands inside it."

Bourn was part of the trade between the Astros and the Phillies that brought closer Brad Lidge to Philadelphia.

Houston's Wesley Wright struck out the side in a scoreless eighth inning before yielding to Doug Brocail, who came on in the ninth and allowed a two-out, pinch-hit single to Jimmy Rollins before striking out pinch hitter Greg Dobbs to notch his first save.

Brocail was pitching in place of Jose Valverde, who blew a 3-0 lead in the ninth inning of a 4-3 Houston loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday.

"Just a day off for our closer (Valverde)," Brocail said. "There's no story here. (Valverde) threw a lot of pitches last night. There's no reason this early in the season to put him back out there and risk injury."

Bourn's speed helped give Houston a 1-0 lead in the first inning. He reached on an infield single, stole second and came around to score on a two-out, RBI double by Carlos Lee.

The Phillies answered in the bottom half of the frame when Jayson Werth led off a single, went to second on a groundout and to third on a flyout. Ryan Howard drove him in with an RBI single to tie the game.