HOUSTON (Ticker) -- While Jeff Kent's debut for the Houston Astros was an unqualified success, it was the play of his supporting cast that has to please manager Jimy Williams.
Kent had three hits, including a home run, and Jeff Bagwell homered twice and drove in three runs as the Astros rolled to a 10-4 triumph over the Colorado Rockies in the season opener for both teams.
The Astros' prized offseason acquisition, Kent homered in his first at-bat, singled and scored in the third inning and added a base hit in the sixth.
"It was big," Kent said of the home run. "You think about doing something like that your first time up, but it rarely happens like that. It meant a lot to me."
"He's a great hitter," Bagwell said of Kent. "He's done it year in and year out. It was nice for the fans to see him do that. He brings another bat to our lineup. You know he's going to hit .300 with 30 home runs."
Bagwell recorded his 27th career multi-homer game and first by a Houston player on Opening Day since the franchise's inaugural game in 1962.
"He's amazing," Kent said of Bagwell. "I've played with a lot of great players in my career and he's one of them. He's not showy, but he does some damage."
While the Astros expect offense from Kent, Bagwell and cleanup hitter Lance Berkman, they need contributions from the top and bottom of the lineup. In this one, No. 2 hitter Geoff Blum homered and drove in three runs and Richard Hidalgo, Brad Ausmus and Julio Lugo also had RBI.
"It was a good game for us all up and down the lineup," Williams said. "We got a lot of contributions from everybody."
The support was more than enough for Houston starter Roy Oswalt (1-0), who allowed two runs - one earned - and four hits in seven innings.
In his first Opening Day assignment, the 25-year-old righthander walked two and struck out one. He is 3-0 with a 2.17 ERA in three career outings against Colorado.
"I didn't want to do too much early," Oswalt said. "A lot of guys overthrow and get behind in the count. I wanted to get ahead early in the count and get a lot of ground balls. I felt good with my fastball. My curveball is coming back and all the other pitches are coming around."
"He pitched a strong game," Williams added. "His strongest inning was probably his last. He probably could have gone another inning, but for his first time out this year, he had done his job."
Rockies starter Jason Jennings (0-1), the reigning National League Rookie of the Year, was tagged for eight runs and nine hits in four innings.
"It had nothing to do with stuff," Jennings said. "It was all location."
"He couldn't get the sinker to sink and the breaking ball to break," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "It was all their way tonight. We played hard, but they had too much offense. I'm not going to draw up a 10-4 loss. We've got to play again tomorrow night."
After the Rockies took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Jose Hernandez in the top of the second, Kent got the Astros even in the bottom half by ripping a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall.
The last player to homer in his first plate appearance for the Astros was pitcher Jose Sosa on July 30, 1975.
A bobble by Kent at second base in the third allowed Colorado to regain the lead, but the Astros scored six times in the bottom half to take control.
Oswalt helped himself with a leadoff single and Craig Biggio followed with a base hit. Blum had a two-run double to right and Bagwell made it 5-2 with his 381st homer - eighth among active players.
Jennings continued to struggle, walking Berkman on five pitches. Kent singled and Hidalgo made it 6-2 with a double down the left field line. Ausmus capped the inning with a sacrifice fly.
"It just kind of snowballed," Jennings said. "Mistakes are going to happen, but that many in an inning will kill you. I made mistakes against the heart of their order. I just couldn't get the ground ball to get out of the inning."
Bagwell homered again in the fourth and joined Roman Mejias as the only players in team history to connect twice in the season opener. Mejias accomplished the feat on April 10, 1962 for the Colt 45s at Colt Stadium.
"It's cool, it's a nice way to start the season," Bagwell said. "I haven't had many good Opening Nights in my career, so it's nice to get some hits and get some confidence."
Lugo had an RBI single in the fifth and Blum's homer made it 10-2 in the sixth.
Colorado scored twice in the eighth against reliever Bruce Chen.
