The Arizona Diamondbacks swept the minor-leaguers known as the Houston Astros in a three-game weekend series,
On Friday, the game in Houston looked a little closer than expected.
Starting pitchers Wade Miley and Dallas Keuchel kept things scoreless until the top of the fifth inning, when Miley knocked in the D-backs' first run, and Chris Young hit a double to score the second.
The Astros responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning, which ended up being the only Astros run in the game.
Paul Goldschmidt doubled in the eighth to bring in one more run, increasing the lead to 3-1.
In the eighth and ninth innings, D-backs relievers David Hernandez and J.J. Putz both brought the tying runs to the plate -- which didn't seem as dangerous as it typically would.
Both men got out of their innings without giving up a run, and the D-backs won 3-1.
On Saturday, the Astros played like the team that's lost 83 games this year. The D-backs won 12-4.
D-backs rookie Patrick Corbin gave up all four runs, but tossed for seven innings.
Most of the Diamondbacks' runs gave in the fifth, when they decided to run up the scoreboard on the Astros.
Justin Upton scored one on a single. Goldschmidt did the same. Chris Young also hit a single to score a run, and Stephen Drew walked to force in yet another. Ryan Wheeler hit a ball that was scored as a fielder's choice, and two runs came in on a subsequent throwing error. Aaron Hill homered for good measure.
For those without a calculator handy, that's nine runs in the fifth inning.
Wheeler and Young would later add solo homers -- Wheeler's first in his short career -- as the Diamondbacks won 12-4.
After Saturday night's game, the Astros made the interesting decision to fire some coaches.
Manager Brad Mills was fired, as if he had anything to do with a team of very young -- we're talking some kids born in the '90s -- and extremely inexperienced team losing more than 80 games.
One of their only "veteran" players is catcher Chris Snyder, the former D-backs catcher who nobody really needs. He's a career .226 hitter who's hitting .181 this year.
Either way, naming Tony DeFrancesco the team's interim coach didn't seem to help -- the D-backs won yesterday, 8-1.
Ian Kennedy had trouble throwing strikes, but it really didn't matter -- he gave up one run through six innings of work.
Six D-backs knocked in runs last night, and Hill homered again.
After that confindence-boosting series, the D-backs come home to start of a four-game series tonight against the Miami Marlins.
The pitching match-up is a nice veteran battle, as Joe Saunders faces fellow lefty Mark Buehrle. Game time is 6:40 p.m.
