LOS ANGELES -- Houston's Roy Oswalt entered his Saturday night start against the Dodgers with the seventh-best ERA in the Major Leagues (2.68). Sensing, perhaps, the difficulty of beating Oswalt, the Dodgers let the righty beat himself.

The Dodgers drew three walks -- two with the bases loaded -- in a five-run first inning, and 21-year-old Edwin Jackson (1-1) never looked back, pitching the Dodgers to an 8-3 win over the Astros.

"I played behind Roy for two years, and [the first inning is] the best chance to get to the kid. ... Get him before he gets warmed up," said Jeff Kent, who played in Houston in 2003 and 2004. "A lot of the hitters today were patient with their swings and we got a lot of runners on base."

Kent hit his 300th home run as a second baseman in the sixth, extending his Major League record, but by then Jackson and reliever Elmer Dessens had all but secured a win for Los Angeles.

In his first start this season, Monday in Florida, Jackson walked five, allowed three runs and needed 107 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings. Saturday, he once again threw 107 pitches and allowed three runs, and though he got only two more outs than he did Monday he showed notably improved command, walking two while striking out six.

"I tried to come at it a different way this time," Jackson said. "Make them put the ball in play [and] cut down on walks."

It worked, as the Astros managed only five baserunners and nary a run through five innings. Chris Burke's three-run homer in the sixth was Jackson's only mistake.

"Tonight was, in my opinion, dramatically better than what we saw in Florida," manager Jim Tracy said. "In Florida, he battled, but his fastball command was erratic. Tonight, it was crisp, it was good to both sides of the plate. It's a big step forward for him."

Jackson's command, surprisingly, outstripped that of Oswalt, who entered the game averaging only 1.73 walks per nine innings. In the first inning Saturday, he threw seven consecutive balls at one point, and only 21 of his 42 offerings were strikes.

Antonio Perez led off with a triple, Oscar Robles hit an RBI single, Kent singled, Jason Phillips hit an RBI double, Jayson Werth walked, Jose Cruz Jr. walked with the bases loaded and Dioner Navarro knocked an RBI single -- all before Oswalt recorded an out. Jackson walked with one out to force in the inning's final run.

The Dodgers also got to Oswalt (15-11) in the fifth, when Phillips singled, Werth doubled and Cruz hit a two-run double to make it 7-0. Oswalt allowed nine hits, three walks and seven runs in four-plus innings.

That proved an adequate surplus for Jackson, who turned his season -- and possibly his career -- around after being demoted from Triple-A to Double-A this summer.

"When I went to Jacksonville, I said, 'OK, I'll do what got me to the big leagues the first time. I'll throw strikes and challenge hitters,'" Jackson said. "When I first came up here [in 2003], I threw, and tonight, I pitched. I worked the ball in and out and threw offspeed [pitches], and it worked."

After Jackson departed in the sixth, Dessens came in and allowed one hit in 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. The right-hander is 1-0 with an 0.87 ERA in his last five outings.

"The last several times that Elmer Dessens has gone to the mound," Tracy said, "he has thrown nothing but quality innings."

Cruz left the game after six innings due to tightness in his left hamstring, but isn't expected to be out for long.

"It just started tightening up after the first inning and it was just getting really, really funny. ... It was a different type of pain," Cruz said. "They tested it here, it's not anything that's gonna keep me out for a week or anything."

Kent's milestone homer came against reliever Mike Burns in the sixth and landed in the Dodgers bullpen. Not bad for a player who, when coming up through the Minor Leagues, never thought he'd still be playing at age 37.

"I was a terrible hitter in Little League, I was OK in college. ... [In the] Minor Leagues, I started to develop a good swing, but I didn't think I'd hit home runs in the Major Leagues," Kent said. "It's still something that I'm just rolling with and not thinking about."

Kent, who has 325 home runs in total, has held the all-time record for home runs at second base since Oct. 2, 2004, when he passed Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg (277) for first place. Still, though, Kent hasn't put any thought toward what his record means.

"I don't really keep track of who's done what and what that accomplishment means," he said. "I will wait until the end of my career to add everything up."