Roy Oswalt tossed seven scoreless innings and J.R. Towles homered to lead the Houston Astros to their second win of the season, 4-3, over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Oswalt (1-2) allowed five hits and did not walk a batter while striking out six. The right-hander yielded only one extra-base hit – a double by Geovany Soto in the fifth – in picking up his first win of the season.
Towles finished 3-for-4 and scored what turned out to be the winning run on Jeff Keppinger’s RBI single in the seventh.
Chicago reached reliever Brandon Lyon for three runs in the eighth, but Chris Sampson came on and forced Mike Fontenot to ground out, ending the threat. Matt Lindstrom pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
Cubs starter Tom Gorzelanny (0-1) allowed two runs in three innings but exited with a bruised left arm. The left-hander was struck by a line drive off the bat of Pedro Feliz with one out in the second. He finished the frame but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom half.
Houston | Chi. Cubs | |
Roy Oswalt | Player | Tom Gorzelanny |
Win | W/L | Loss |
7.0 | IP | 3.0 |
6 | Strikeouts | 0 |
5 | Hits | 3 |
0.00 | ERA | 6.00 |
Houston | Chi. Cubs | |
J.R. Towles | Player | Alfonso Soriano |
3 | Hits | 2 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 3 |
.750 | Avg | .500 |