ARLINGTON – Roy Oswalt made quite a first impression on Friday night.
In his Texas Rangers debut, Oswalt worked 6 2/3 innings and carried the team to a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies at a sold out Rangers Ballpark. Texas has won seven straight, and can match its season-long winning streak with a victory on Saturday.
Oswalt retired eight straight at one point, and worked out of jams all night. In the fifth, he gave up back-to-back one-out singles, but ended that threat by inducing groundouts by Dexter Fowler and Marco Scutaro. He worked around a leadoff walk and a two-out single in a scoreless sixth.
Oswalt gave up his lone run in the seventh. With two outs, Fowler tripled to left and scored on a double by Scutaro. That ended Oswalt’s night, as he threw 110 pitches, 81 for strikes. He allowed one run on nine hits with one walk and six strikeouts, earning the victory.
The Rangers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first. Josh Hamilton drew a two-out walk, and Adrian Beltre followed with a home run that narrowly cleared the right field fence.
Texas made it 4-0 in the fourth with two more runs. Nelson Cruz had an RBI double, and Mike Napoli swatted a solo home run to right. Those four runs were enough for Oswalt and the Rangers’ bullpen.
Robbie Ross relieved Oswalt in the seventh, and ended the inning by getting Carlos Gonzalez to groundout. Ross and Mike Adams teamed to work the eighth, and Joe Nathan picked up his 16th save with a perfect ninth.
Colorado starter Christian Friedrich went six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
-- Drew Davison
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