Belliard's five RBI pace Nats to win over 'Stros

Baseball Betting Lines

07/11/2008 - Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ronnie Belliard hit a pair of home runs and drove in five, while Tim Redding threw six shutout innings to help Washington crush Houston, 10-0, in the first of three games with the Astros.

Houston starter Roy Oswalt re-aggravated a hip injury and left the game after throwing one scoreless inning, and the Nationals' offense took advantage. Austin Kearns had two hits, including a two-run homer, while Cristian Guzman went 3-for-5 with a double for Washington, which has won two of three.

The run support helped Redding (7-3) pick up his first win and decision since a May 19 start against the Phillies. Redding allowed seven hits, but had no walks and struck out six.

Chad Paronto (0-1) took over for Oswalt, and allowed three runs on six hits in 2 1/3 frames to take the loss. Dave Borkowski surrendered seven runs in two innings for the Astros, who have lost four of five.

Houston had nine hits -- Kaz Matsui and Carlos Lee each had two -- but eight of them were singles. Matsui had a double for the team's only extra-base hit.

Paronto took the mound for the second inning, and the Nationals got to him almost immediately. After Jesus Flores hit a one-out single, Belliard clubbed the ball over the left field wall for a 2-0 lead.

In the third, Guzman and Kearns led off with back-to-back doubles to push one more run across, bringing up Dmitri Young. But after Young fouled off a pitch, he left the game with tightness in his lower back. As a result, Pete Orr pinch-hit and played at third base, while Belliard moved over to first.

Redding got into some jams -- Houston had runners on the corners in the first inning -- but found his way out of them, and in the fifth, Washington tacked on five runs to turn the game into a blowout.

Borkowski started on the mound and immediately gave up an infield single to Guzman, then walked Kearns. A sacrifice moved the runners over, and a walk to Kory Casto loaded the bases. After Flores singled to bring home Guzman and Kearns, Belliard blasted a three-run homer to center field, his ninth of the year, to boost Washington's lead to 8-0.

Redding worked a perfect top of the sixth, and Kearns' two-run homer in the bottom half completed the scoring. Steven Shell tossed three scoreless innings for the Nationals to finish the game and earn his first career save.

Game Notes

Oswalt was making his first start since June 30, when he came out with the same injury after six innings...On Friday, the Nationals recalled outfielder Ryan Langerhans from Triple-A Columbus, and optioned outfielder Roger Bernadina to Columbus...The Astros left eight runners on base, while the Nationals stranded five.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.