(Sports Network) - The red-hot Oakland Athletics attempt to maintain their interleague success in today's opener of a three-game series with the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Oakland invades the Lone Star State fresh off a three-game sweep of Bay Area rival San Francisco over the weekend and has recorded victories in eight of its last nine games.
The A's are also 5-1 against the National League so far this season and own one of the best all-time marks in interleague competition at 108-74.
Oakland received another outstanding pitching performance in Sunday's finale with the Giants, as three hurlers teamed for a five-hit shutout to lead the way in a 2-0 decision.
Lenny DiNardo held San Francisco scoreless over the first six frames before Santiago Casilla (2-0) threw two perfect innings to nail down the win. Alan Embree then tossed a shutout ninth to notch his seventh save.
Marco Scutaro broke a scoreless deadlock with a solo home run to lead off the eighth inning, while Shannon Stewart's RBI single in the ninth provided some insurance for the A's.
Oakland starting pitchers have yielded two earned runs or less in each of the club's last 13 contests. Joe Kennedy looks to keep that streak intact when he takes the mound tonight.
Kennedy has delivered back-to-back strong outings to begin June. The left- hander limited Minnesota to one run over eight innings in a no decision on June 1, then followed with seven innings of two-run ball to defeat Boston last Wednesday. Kennedy also struck out a season-best seven Red Sox that night.
The 28-year-old, who previously pitched in the NL with Colorado, owns a 1-2 record with a 4.79 earned run average in three career starts against Houston.
The struggling Astros send out Roy Oswalt in tonight's opener and hope the ace right-hander can snap a string of five consecutive winless starts.
Oswalt is 0-2 with three no decisions since defeating Arizona on May 12 and has surrendered four or more runs three times since his most recent win. The two-time All-Star had a shaky start Thursday in Colorado, where Oswalt gave up four runs and nine hits in a six-inning no decision.
This will be only Oswalt's second career appearance against Oakland, with the other coming on June 7, 2002 at McAfee Coliseum. He wound up with the loss in that game after allowing five runs (four earned) and walking five over 5 2/3 innings.
Houston wrapped up a seven-game road trip with a loss to the Chicago Cubs in a makeup of an earlier rainout. Carlos Zambrano pitched eight outstanding innings and added a solo home run at the plate as the Cubs edged the Astros by a 2-1 count.
Woody Williams (2-9) threw well in defeat for Houston, which ended the trek with a 3-4 record. The veteran right-hander gave up just two runs and four hits while striking out five over seven innings.
The Astros mustered only three hits -- all singles -- on the evening.
These clubs have only faced one another one time previously, with the A's sweeping a three-game set from Houston in Oakland in June, 2002.
