Oswalt shuts down Diamondbacks

The Skinny: Roy Oswalt limited the Arizona Diamondbacks to just 1 hit over 8 innings, and Ty Wigginton hit a 3-run homer in the first inning, giving the Houston Astros a 3-0 victory Sunday at Minute Maid Park. After Stephen Drew singled in the third, Oswalt retired 15 straight D-Back batters before giving way to closer Jose Valverde, who worked the 9th for his 31st save of the year. Randy Johnson pitched well for Arizona, allowing just 3 runs in 7 innings, but was saddled with the loss. His record falls to 10-9 on the year, and he missed an opportunity to notch his 295th career victory.

A second reason to celebrate: The Astros today retired #7 for Craig Biggio. Biggio spent his entire 20-year career with the Astros before retiring after last season. He finished his career with 3,060 hits. Biggio joins Jeff Bagwell, Jimmy Wynn, Jose Cruz, Jim Umbricht, Mike Scott, Don Wilson, Nolan Ryan, and Larry Dierker as Astros with their number retired by the club.

Diamondbacks’ Player of the Game: By default, it’s Stephen Drew, who had 2 base hits and walked to lead off the game. Arizona managed only 4 base runners all day, and Drew was that runner 3 times. Only Chris Snyder, who walked in the third, was also able to reach base.

Astros’ Player of the Game: Duh. Oswalt was outstanding, striking out 10 over his 8 innings of work. Only Cecil Cooper’s decision to pull Oswalt out for Valverde in the 9th prevented the Astros from getting their first complete game from a starter this season. The Astros, Marlins and Reds are the only National League teams without a complete game this season.

Numbers: The Diamondbacks were shut out after scoring 23 runs in the first two games of the series. It was the 5th time the Diamondbacks have been shut out in ‘08…Adam Dunn has yet to homer in 6 games for the Diamondbacks. Dating back to his time in Cincinnati, Dunn is homerless in his last 16 games. His last homers came on July 30th, when he went deep twice off of Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez in a 9-5 win over the Astros.

Repercussions: The D-Backs loss, along with yet another bottom of the 9th victory for the Dodgers, finds Arizona and Los Angeles tied atop the National League West again. It is the 5th time the D-Backs and Dodgers have been tied for first since July 9th. The Diamondbacks have had at least a share of first place in the division for the last 118 games.

MLB.com : Recap | Boxscore

Here’s what others are saying about Roy Oswalt’s domination of the Diamondbacks…

Astros end D-Backs’ win streak [AZCentral]

Oswalt pitches Astros past Johnson, D-Backs [East Valley Tribune/AP]

Astros snap losing skid with 3-0 win over D-Backs [Houston Chronicle]

The Diamondbacks are off on Monday, and start a 6-game homestand with a visit from the San Diego Padres Tuesday at Chase Field.

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Tags: Adam Dunn, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chris Snyder, Randy Johnson, Stephen Drew