(Best E Casino) - Roy Oswalt is returning from the disabled list just in time to face his favorite opponent. Oswalt will attempt to win his fifth straight decision against the Reds, as the Houston Astros open a three-game series with Cincinnati tonight at Minute Maid Park.

Oswalt is 19-1 with a 2.46 earned run average in 24 career tests versus the Reds, including 22 starts. He won his first 15 decisions against Cincinnati before taking a loss against the club on April 28, 2006. The right-hander has won four decisions against them since.

The 30-year-old is 7-8 with a 4.56 ERA in 19 starts this year and has been sidelined since suffering a left hip abductor strain on July 11 versus Washington. Oswalt lasted just an inning in that game and landed on the DL the following day.

Houston will be trying to win consecutive games tonight after downing Milwaukee on Sunday, 11-6, to take two of three in the series. Geoff Blum hit two home runs and drove in four runs in the victory.

Brad Ausmus was 4-for-4 with two RBI singles and two runs scored, while Miguel Tejada knocked in three with a pair of hits. Hunter Pence and Darin Erstad each had two hits and a pair of runs scored.

Lance Berkman had two hits yesterday and was 2-for-2 with a double, homer and three RBI when the Astros faced tonight's starter for the Reds, Johnny Cueto, for the first time back on April 24.

Cueto took the loss on that day, yielding a total of five runs on eight hits over seven innings of a loss. The right-hander has a 6.50 ERA over his last three starts, going 0-1 in that span. Cueto has posted back-to-back no- decisions, including Tuesday when he gave up three runs in six innings versus the Padres.

On the season, the 22-year-old rookie is 7-9 with a 4.90 ERA in 21 starts.

The Reds enter this set after getting swept in three games by the Rockies. Colorado put the exclamation point on series Sunday with an 11-0 victory. Adam Dunn had a pair of hits while former Rockie Josh Fogg (2-3) was banged up for seven runs on eight hits in just 3 2/3 innings of work for Cincinnati, which has lost five of seven overall.

Dunn, though, is hitting .345 (10-for-29) with two homers and eight RBI over last eight games, and is batting .246 (14-for-57) in his career against Oswalt with three homers, four RBI and 17 strikeouts.

Houston has won six straight over Cincinnati and swept a two-game series in Ohio in the only other meeting this season between the clubs. Overall, the Astros have won 14 of their last 18 against the Reds.