Diamondbacks 1, Astros 5: Houston, We Have A Problem

Record: 29-39 On pace: 69-93 Change on last season: -8

Well, that didn't really go as well as we might have liked.

It started out poorly for Brandon McCarthy, giving up a one-out single in the bottom of the first to George Springer, and then walking Jon Singleton. Jason Castro then singled up the middle, and George Springer came around to score. After trading double plays in the second inning, things went pear-shaped for McCarthy in the third, as well. A lead-off single to Jonathan Villar, followed by a Springer single and a wild pitch, gave the Astros two runners in scoring position with one out. Singleton ground out, but scored Villar, and then Juan Castro ground out to end the inning, but it was 2-0 Houston

But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked- or, I mean, in the top of the fourth inning. Aaron Hill led off the inning with a solo shot to left, and Paul Goldschmidt followed it with a single to left. Time to rally! No, no, wait, time for Miguel Montero to hit into a double play. And then time for Chris Carter to hit his own solo home run in the bottom of the inning to bump that Astros lead back up and make it a 3-1 game.

The bad news? That was about the last interesting thing our offense did all game. The next couple innings just went quickly, trading back and forth 1-2-3 innings, up until the seventh. Then I think Houston realized they didn't have to go down 1-2-3 if they didn't want to, and- oh, hey, Chris Carter hit another solo home run. Go write an episode of X-Files about that deja vu, you jerk. McCarthy shook off that by... Oh, by giving up a single to Alex Presley, having Presley steal second, and then walking Marwin Gonzalez. That was the end of McCarthy's night, as he was pulled for J.J. Putz. Putz responded by allowing a bunt single to Jonathan Villar to load the bases, and after striking out Dexter Follower, allowing an RBI single to George Springer to make the score 5-1.

It was all done after that. Joe Thatcher replaced Putz to get the last out, and Ender Inciarte reached with two outs in the eighth before he was stranded. Chad Qualls came in for the ninth to go 1-2-3 through our lineup, and that was the end of it. Bah.

Hill was the only DBacks player to put up a WPA of a full percentage point or more. Nick Evans probably deserves a mention for going 0 for 3 with 2 Ks as our designated hitter. And McCarthy fell to 1-9 on the season. That was how this game went.

A relatively busy GDT that continued on past 300 after the game ended. DBacksSkins led the commenting, with JoeCB1991 and Rockkstarr12 in second and third. We also had visits from 4 Corners Fan, GuruB, Jim McLennan, LUKEthe1st, Makakilo, TolkienBard, cheese1213, cole8865, grimmy01, hotclaws, imstillhungry95, kishi, onedotfive, preston.salisbury, rd33, txzona, and xmet. None of the comments went green, and the only one that had more than one rec was from me, so let's just take a moment to appreciate how funny I am.

So another loss means we play for a split tomorrow with the Astros and an end to our weird dabbling with the American League. Tune in next time, and see if we can go .500 against one of the most mocked teams in baseball!