Oswalt gets first win as Astros beat Cubs 4-3
The Cubs rallied late for the second straight game, but Saturday's charge fell a clutch hit shy in a 4-3 loss to Houston at Wrigley Field.
Astros starting pitcher Roy Oswalt kept the Cubs off balance with a steady diet of changeups to complement his fastball. He kept them scoreless on 5 hits through 7 innings with 6 strikeouts and no walks, and he made some personal history in the process. More on that later.
"He was locating his fastball," Cubs second baseman Ryan Theriot said of Oswalt. "He threw me some good changeups, which was kind of unexpected. Any time you can locate both of those pitches to a righty it opens up the door for those other two pitches as well. O's got a good arm; we all knew that. As the game went on he threw harder and harder."
Houston reliever Brandon Lyon, who relieved Oswalt to open the eighth inning, wasn't as deceptive.
Trailing 4-0, the Cubs jumped on Lyon for 3 runs on 4 hits. The key blows were a 2-run double by Aramis Ramirez and a run-scoring double by Alfonso Soriano, which pulled the Cubs within a run. However, Mike Fontenot's groundout stranded the tying run at second base, and the Cubs did not score in the ninth to the disappointment of 40,471 fans.
The Chicago bullpen was forced to pitch 6 innings after starter Tom Gorzelanny was hit by a line drive off the bat of Pedro Feliz in the third. The left-hander threw a few test pitches and stayed in the game to record the third out, but he was removed from the game between innings.
"It got me right in the deltoid," Gorzelanny said. "It felt like somebody just slapped me on the shoulder. I didn't think it was too serious and it's not serious at all."
Gorzelanny left the game trailing 2-0 after the Astros scored twice in the second inning on a groundout by Chris Johnson and a single by catcher J.R. Towles.
The Cubs bullpen held its own as four pitchers held the Astros to 2 runs over the next 6 innings. Jeff Gray allowed a solo home run to Towles in the fifth inning, a hooking line drive that hit the left-field foul pole, and Jeff Keppinger's basehit off Justin Berg in the seventh put the Astros ahead 4-0. James Russell and Sean Marshall each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
The victory marked two milestones for Oswalt, who surpassed his first big-league manager, Larry Dierker, for sole possession of second place on the franchise's all-time wins list with 138. He now owns a career record of 138-72 overall. Oswalt's 6 strikeouts also leapfrogged Dierker for third place in that category in team history.
"It's nice," said Oswalt who threw 61 of his 101 pitches for strikes. "Larry Dierker was my first manager and he was the type of guy that left you in to pitch. I remember that coming up, throwing 130 or 135 pitches as a rookie. He left you out there and made you learn how to get out of situations. I think it makes you better as you get older."
Houston closer Matt Lindstrom earned his first save of the season by striking out Kosuke Fukudome swinging for the final out with the tying run at second base.
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Jerry Fitzpatrick's game tracker</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col"><b>Astros 4, Cubs 3</b></p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Marshall perfect: Cubs lefty reliever Sean Marshall continued his impressive April by striking out all three hitters he faced in the ninth inning to lower his ERA to 1.29. In 7 innings over 6 appearances this season, the 6-foot-7 left-hander has struck out 12 without a walk and has allowed just 1 run on 3 hits.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Russell still rolling: Reliever James Russell continued the hot start to his major-league career. The lefty retired the Astros in order in the eighth inning to extend his scoreless innings streak to 41/3. The rookie allowed only 1 earned run in 13 innings in spring training.</p>
<p class="factboxtext12col">Streaks extended: Ryan Theriot and Derrek Lee each extended their team-best hitting streaks to eight games. Theriot (1-for-5) singled in the third inning. Lee (1-for-4) doubled in the eighth inning and has now reached base in all 10 games in which he has played.</p>