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Nationals put hurting on Oswalt, Astros

Jul 12, 2008 - 3:47 AM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Tim Redding finally had something to show for his efforts.

The Nationals' righthander pitched six superb innings and Ronnie Belliard belted two homers and drove in five runs to lead Washington to a 10-0 win over the Houston Astros on Friday night.

Redding, who entered without a decision in his previous nine outings, allowed seven singles en route to his third straight win. He struck out six and walked none.

Redding's no-decision streak equaled a major league season-high. He joked that he wanted to be remembered for something.

"It [stinks]. I wanted to go into the record book. I told my wife, some way, somehow in my career I'm going in the record book," Redding (7-3) said.

"Obviously, it feels good to get a win. The guys have been playing tough."

Washington's task was made considerably easier when Houston ace Roy Oswalt left the game with a strained abductor muscle in his left hip after one inning.

Belliard hit a two-run shot in the second and a three-run blast in the fifth, giving him nine homers on the season. The second of the night was the 100th of his career.

"I got lucky," Belliard said. "A lot of people have 700 and 500, but for me it feels good."

Steven Shell pitched the final three innings to earn his first career save.

The Nationals, who had lost seven of their previous eight games, took advantage of Chad Paronto (0-1), who batted for and relieved Oswalt in the second.

Oswalt said he felt his hip flare up on him on one of his final warm-up tosses, but he wanted to pitch - especially since he had missed a start.

"Today, warming up, I didn't feel anything. I felt 100 percent. Maybe I came back a little too quick," Oswalt said.

"I wanted to get one start in before the break so I wouldn't have to worry about it after the break, so now, we'll see how it feels after the break and go from there."

Manager Cecil Cooper didn't want to risk his three-time All-Star.

"I know he wanted to try and get through that inning, and we allowed him to do that, and after that, we said it's best for us not to try and do this," Cooper said. "I think it was the best decision. Long-range, he's our guy. We can't take a chance of hurting him."

Belliard made it 2-0 with his blast in the second and, and inning later, Cristian Guzman - who had three hits - led off with a double and scored on Austin Kearns' two-base hit.

Washington scored five more runs in the fifth on a two-run single by Jesus Flores and Belliard's three-run homer to center, which capped his second multi-home run game of the season.

"He has provided some unexpected power and the knack to drive in some runs for us, which is welcome," Nationals manager Manny Acta said.

"I say unexpected because he's leading our team in home runs. Raise your hand if, in spring training, any of you guys would have guessed that one."

Kearns added a two-run shot in the sixth - his fourth of the year - off Dave Borkowski, Houston's fourth pitcher.

Kaz Matsui and Carlos Lee each had two hits for the Astros, who have lost eight of 10.

"We just didn't get a hit when we needed it. I left a couple of guys in scoring position. We had a lot of opportunities in scoring position that we didn't take advantage of," Astros first baseman Lance Berkman said. "You have to capitalize when you have guys on base, and tonight, we didn't do that. I take part of the blame for that."