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Rockies-Astros Preview

May 20, 2010 - 5:06 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (19-20) at Houston (13-26), 8:05 p.m. EDT

Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez might be pitching like a Cy Young Award candidate, but Houston's Roy Oswalt has been the dominant pitcher in this series over the years.

Jimenez looks to become the majors' first eight-game winner while trying to help the Rockies avoid a season-high fourth straight loss with a rare win over Oswalt and the Astros on Thursday night.

After suffering his first defeat of the season in a 2-0 loss at Los Angeles on May 9, Jimenez (7-1, 1.12 ERA) had another excellent outing Saturday in a 6-2 win over Washington, allowing two runs in eight innings.

Through eight starts, Jimenez has the lowest ERA of any starter in the majors, 54 strikeouts in 56 1/3 innings and has held opposing hitters to a .184 batting average.

"He's just a great pitcher - great tempo, challenges hitters, got great offspeed stuff," Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said. "That's the way he's pitched all year."

That's also the way he's pitched against Houston (14-26) of late. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts versus the Astros, holding them to two runs in 13 innings over his last two meetings.

Jimenez looks to help the Rockies (19-21) bounce back after falling 7-3 in the opener of this two-game set Wednesday. In order to do that, they'll have to find a way to beat Oswalt (2-5, 2.62).

The veteran right-hander is 7-1 with a 1.78 ERA in 10 career starts against the Rockies, including 2-0 with a 0.78 ERA in his last three.

Oswalt has pitched well this season, but the 2.29 average run support he's getting per game is the lowest in the majors.

He allowed two runs and struck out seven in seven innings of a 2-1 loss to Tim Lincecum and San Francisco on Saturday. Oswalt is 0-3 despite a 2.79 ERA in four starts since beating Pittsburgh on April 23.

"I'm sure there's a major frustration, to have a guy pitch like that and continue to struggle a little bit and he's not getting rewarded for it," Astros manager Brad Mills said.

Last in the majors in runs (122), Houston broke out while snapping a five-game losing streak Wednesday. Jeff Keppinger had three hits with a career-high four runs and Cory Sullivan hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning as the Astros improved to 13-3 when scoring four runs or more this season.

Keppinger, 7 for 13 in his last three games, will get more time at second base after the Astros released struggling veteran Kaz Matsui after Wednesday's victory. The 34-year-old Matsui was batting .141 this season and was hitless in his last 20 at-bats.

"Keppinger's performance from the very first day of the season has been very solid and gives us comfort at the position," Astros general manager Ed Wade said of the journeyman infielder who's batting .283 this season.

Carlos Gonzalez had his 12-game hitting streak snapped after going 0 for 5 on Wednesday for Colorado, which has scored nine runs while losing three of four. Gonzalez is batting .322 on the season.