 gave up one run on three hits with nine strikeouts. The right-hander, who tied a career-high with his tenth win of the season, rebounded nicely after being tagged for five runs in his last start.Taijuan Walker (6-7) allowed five runs - three earned - on nine hits in five innings. Walker has allowed five runs in consecutive starts and has not won since June 21.)
Astros try to keep momentum going versus D-backs 2h ago• 2 min read PHOENIX -- The Houston Astros found their offense Tuesday.The Arizona Diamondbacks hope to get back on track when the teams continue their four-game, home-and-home series with the final two at Minute Maid Park in Houston beginning Wednesday.The Astros evened the series with a 9-4 victory at Chase Field on Tuesday, when they had seven extra-base hits, including Yuli Gurriel's first major league triple and recently recalled catcher Max Stassi's first homer of the season.Houston had scored 17 runs while losing six of its previous seven, although with such a big lead in the American League West, it hardly registered on the national radar. Despite that mini-funk, the Astros (73-46) lead the major leagues in runs, hits, doubles, homers, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage."We looked more like ourselves," said Houston manager A. J. Hinch, whose team jumped to an 8-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings, keyed by a five-run second. Four scored with two outs."We've been grinding so hard to just get something positive, especially offensively," Hinch said. "Big inning, good at-bats, obviously it took a little bit of everybody to get through that inning. We've had a rough week and a rough road trip, and it's nice to end it with a win and get home and get back to sort of how we're playing." "We know we're a good offense," said Houston shortstop Bregman, who tripled, singled and had an RBI. "We just wanted to put together back-to-back-to-back, and we did that (in the second inning). That's one of the things we've done a lot this year. When we put together quality AB's like that, we're a tough offense to stop." Arizona (66-53) remains comfortably in wild-card position in the National League, but the Diamondbacks have not made it easy on themselves by losing seven of their past 10. They are 13-17 since the All-Star break.The D-backs were 3-5 on a homestand that included series against three division leaders -- the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Houston. They lost two of three to both the Dodgers and the Cubs."Good, not great," Arizona third baseman Jake Lamb said of the homestand. "We played some really good teams, but I definitely think there were some games we should have won. But that's baseball, and we have to move on. One side you want to say you faced good teams, but at the same time, we are a really good team and we are right there with all those teams, including the Dodgers. I'm not taking anything away from them, but if we play our game, we should take care of business against teams like that." Lamb has 92 RBIs, one fewer than teammate Paul Goldschmidt.Houston right-hander Charlie Morton is set to oppose Arizona right-hander Taijuan Walker on Wednesday.Morton (9-5, 3.83 ERA) is one victory short of tying his major league high set in 2017. He is 3-1 with a 3.97 ERA in six career starts against Arizona, the last while with Pittsburgh in 2014. He is 6-2 with a 3.65 ERA 11 home starts this season.Walker (6-6, 3.76 ERA) is 5-3 with a 4.50 ERA against Houston. He has faced the Astros 11 times after much of his career with Seattle in the AL West. He was 1-2 against the Astros in his first season with Arizona last year. Walker is 4-3 with a 3.11 ERA in 10 road starts this season.
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