Houston’s ace pitcher limited the Reds to five hits in seven innings to lead the Astros’ 4-1 victory Wednesday night. Hunter Pence and Ty Wigginton each hit a two-run home run to help Oswalt beat Cincinnati for the 22nd time in 23 decisions.
When Oswalt last saw the Reds in Houston on July 28, they had Ken Griffey, Jr. and Adam Dunn. The new faces made no difference to Oswalt, who struck out three batters and allowed only four baserunners in his last five innings.
Oswalt (12-9) has won seven straight decisions against Cincinnati since a 5-4 loss at Great American Ball Park on April 28, 2006. He hasn’t lost to the Reds in Houston since 2004.
“I don’t really think about the record going into the games,” Oswalt said. “I just try to remember what I’ve done to them in games past and how I got different guys out, stick with the gameplan and execute it until they try to do something else.”
Pence homered off Josh Fogg (2-7), who has dropped his last five decisions overall and his last seven against Houston. Fogg hasn’t won in six starts since he was hit in the mouth by Joey Votto’s line drive during batting practice on July 22. Fogg needed 30 stitches to his upper lip.
Fogg felt like he made only one bad pitch Wednesday night. But when you’re a Cincinnati pitcher facing Oswalt, that’s usually all it takes.
“You know he’s going to pitch a good game and put up a lot of zeroes,” Fogg said. “He’s one of the premier pitchers in the league, so I knew I couldn’t make a mistake.”
Wigginton homered in the seventh against Houston native Gary Majewski and has hit eight of his 17 homers this month.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched a scoreless eighth and Jose Valverde earned his 34th save for the Astros, who have won nine of 11 meetings with the Reds this season and 13 of the last 15 matchups overall.
“Roy and two big swings are all we needed tonight,” Houston manager Cecil Cooper said.
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