13 hits aren't enough to stop Oswalt from winning
In just his second start for the Texas Rangers, Roy Oswalt wrote himself into the club's record books.
It wasn't exactly a record he wanted.
In a 13-9 win over the Detroit Tigers, Oswalt allowed 13 hits in six innings. It was a career high in hits for Oswalt and matched the Rangers record for hits allowed by a pitcher in a victory. Nelson Briles, John Matlack and Doc Medich all shared the record, which hadn't been matched since 1980.
It was also the first time an AL pitcher allowed at least 13 hits and won a game since Tampa Bay's Jae Weong Seo gave up 13 hits in a May 24, 2007, win over Seattle.
"Sometimes I get in a habit of throwing too many strikes," Oswalt said. "I was trying to keep my pitch count down and go deep into the game. Yeah, I might have gone a little overboard tonight."
Oswalt threw first-pitch strikes to the first nine hitters of the game and also had 0-and-2 counts on the first five hitters that saw at least three pitches in an at-bat. But Detroit soon caught on and started lashing out hits.
Oswalt, however, got three double plays, including one on his last pitch of the evening to put himself in position for the win. Oswalt has thrown 217 pitches in his two starts with the Rangers; 155 (71.4 percent) for strikes.
"He had to battle," manager Ron Washington said. "He faced a pretty good team that can swing the bat. One thing he did was throw strikes. He didn't back down. He kept throwing the ball in the strike zone, and they put some hits on him. In my opinion, it was a good outing because he kept the lead."
