• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Oswalt, Astros top Mets in series finale

Jul 8, 2007 - 10:45 PM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros wrapped up a successful homestand with a 8-3 triumph over the New York Mets on Sunday afternoon.

Starting his last game before his third All-Star appearance, Oswalt (8-5) pitched seven strong innings to pick up just his second since May 12. The righthander allowed three runs, seven hits and one walk while striking out four.

Oswalt, who will replace Atlanta Braves ace John Smoltz on the National League squad, improved to 6-1 at home after two no-decisions in his previous two starts here.

"It was nice to get the big lead early and then get into the seventh inning," said Oswalt, who won needed four tries to get his eighth win in 2007. "The thing I needed to do today was go deep in the game, especially after the offense took care of things earlier in the game.

"Some guys try to start striking everyone out, and that is when they get into trouble. You do that and you don't do your job when you get a big lead. Today I was just throwing a lot of fastballs, trying to get ahead of guys and making them put the ball in play."

Chris Burke had a big day at the plate for the Astros, who dropped a 17-inning heartbreaker Saturday but regrouped less than 24 hours later to salvage a tie of this four-game series.

Houston went 7-4 on the homestand and has won 10 of its last 14 games at Minute Maid Park.

Burke went 2-for-4 and hit his second homer of the season, a two-run shot off Mets starter Dave Williams with no outs in the fourth inning. Houston's Morgan Ensberg drove in two runs with a single in the first inning and now has four RBI in his last two games.

"Chris had a real nice day and so did (Hunter) Pence," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "When those guys get on base like they did today, it can set up some real nice stuff for the guys hitting behind them."

"We really needed to get this win after how the game went yesterday," said Pence, who went 1-for-8 in Saturday's 17-inning loss. "It was real important for us to tie this series and get out of here with a successful homestand. Right now, as a team, I think we are doing some good things on the field."

Williams (0-1) was activated from the disabled list before the game after spending the first half of the season recovering from neck disc herniation surgery.

The lefthander was in and out of trouble all day before the Astros finally chased him in the fouth inning. Leading 5-0, Oswalt led off with a walk and scored on Burke's homer. Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee hit back-to-back doubles to make it 8-0.

"After the first inning, I felt like I was rushing a lot," Williams said. "I couldn't slow myself down and get into a rhythm. It is what it is. They scored a lot of runs."

The Mets got two runs in the sixth off Oswalt when Carlos Beltran hit his second homer of the series over the fence in right, scoring David Newhan.

New York added another run in the sixth when Jose Reyes - who also had two stolen bases on Sunday - singled to center to score Sandy Alomar, Jr. who doubled earlier in the inning.

The Mets' bullpen was effective for the second straight night. After pitching 11 scoreless innings on Saturday, Aaron Sele and Scott Schoeneweis combined for 4 2/3 shutout innings on Sunday.

"We had Oswalt where we wanted him (in the first) with runners on first and third and nobody out, and we didn't get any runs out of it," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Any time you have first and third and nobody out and you get nothing out of it, that's not good."