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Oswalt dominant, leads Astros over Diamondbacks

Aug 17, 2008 - 10:00 PM By Jeremy Rakes PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Roy Oswalt struck out 10 in eight dominant innings to lead the Houston Astros to a 3-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.

Oswalt (11-8) gave up just one hit, a third-inning single to Stephen Drew. The righthander has won four straight decisions since coming off the disabled list on July 28 and improved to 7-1 lifetime against the Diamondbacks.

"I did pretty well. A few guys hit the ball pretty decent, but they hit it right at someone," Oswalt said. "I didn't like the walks too much, but we got a big play from the outfield. I felt pretty good."

Outscored 23-7 in losing the first two games of the series, the Astros jumped to the lead in the bottom of the first on Ty Wigginton's two-out, three-run homer off Randy Johnson (10-9).

"I was looking for a pitch middle in from Randy. I think he was trying to go away, but he made a mistake, and I was fortunate to get it," Wigginton said. "Any time you are going against a pitcher like Randy Johnson, everybody knows everything he has accomplished. I was happy to know that we had Roy going. Roy was truly the man of the day. He outdid him today."

That would be the only offense Oswalt needed, as he retired 15 straight batters to end his day. He walked two, throwing 73 of 105 pitches for strikes.

"Roy had a really nice outing," Astros manager Cecil Cooper said. "It was outstanding. Phenomenal. It was the best outing of this year. We saw two of the best ever going today. The guy on the other side made one mistake, and it cost him. It was a good win for us.

"We really needed this outing from Roy. He stepped up big for us. He knew we were somewhat thing in the bullpen. He's finally healthy and has his legs under him. He attacked the hitters. It was a terrific outing."

Jose Valverde pitched around a two-out single to Drew in the ninth for his 31st save.

Arizona (64-60) threatened in the third as Chris Snyder led off the inning with a walk and reached second on Johnson's sacrifice. Drew singled to right, but Hunter Pence gunned down Snyder at the plate with a one-hop throw from right field to end the inning.

Johnson gave up the three runs and eight hits in seven innings, striking out five and walking one. It was the lefthanders sixth straight quality start, but the 44-year-old was outdueled by Oswalt, who helped Houston avoid the sweep.

"I didn't make the pitch I needed to and Roy pitched outstanding," Johnson said. "You kind of knew after the first two games, to see that kind of a performance three times, would've been a lot to ask for. He pitched outstanding and I made one mistake, which I guess is what it comes down to. I started making the pitches after the fact and that's pretty much the whole ballgame, really."

"Once the game got going, (Johnson's) stuff got better and better. You can't ask for much more than that," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "But when Oswalt's got everything working like he did today, it's tough to get hits, let alone multiple baserunners."

Wigginton had three hits and Miguel Tejada added two singles and a run scored for the Astros.