Astros lose pitching ace in 6-2 loss to Rangers

[KFDM COOP]

Astros lose pitching ace in 6-2 loss to Rangers

Oswalt exits seventh with strained muscle

ARLINGTON – They were the hottest team in baseball just two days ago. Now the Astros are facing the possibility of getting swept while holding their breath about the health of their ace.

Astros starter Roy Oswalt was forced to leave tonight’s game against the Texas Rangers in the seventh inning with a strained right groin after giving up 11 hits and six runs in six innings.

That was more than enough offense for the Rangers to hand the Astros a 6-2 loss in the second game of the Lone Star Series in front 38,354 fans at Rangers Ballpark. The Astros will send Brandon Backe, who’s 0-4 on the road this year, to the mound Sunday to try to avoid getting swept for the first time this year.

Oswalt (4-4) left the game after giving up two consecutive singles to start the seventh inning. He is listed as day-to-day.

Lance Berkman continued to sizzle, going 2-for-3 with a home run to extend his hitting streak to 16 games and push his average to .399. His sixth-inning single gave him 31 hits in 50 at-bats, making him the second player since 1956 to do that (Pete Rose in 1979).

Hunter Pence singled in the eighth to stretch his hitting streak to 15 games. Michael Bourn was thrown out trying to steal second base by catcher Gerald Laird, snapping his 22-game stolen base streak.

The Astros made Rangers starter Vicente Padilla (6-2) throw 32 pitches in the first inning, but the only run they managed came on a one-out single by Miguel Tejada to score Kaz Matsui, who had walked.

Oswalt allowed a bloop single to Josh Hamilton with two outs in the first inning before Milton Bradley rocketed a 1-2 hanging curveball over the right-field wall for a two-run homer.

Texas went ahead 4-1 in the second when Marlon Byrd followed an infield hit by Fran Catalanotto with a two-run homer to right field. Oswalt cruised through the third, but allowed two consecutive singles in the fourth and fifth, though the Rangers couldn’t score.

Berkman led off the fourth with an opposite-field homer to left, his 16th of the season, to cut the lead to 4-2. But the Astros had just four singles after the Berkman homer.

[bullets13]

yay rangers!