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| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Houston (34-61) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| Arizona (46-48) « | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | x | 12 | 14 | 1 |
PHOENIX -- Jason Kubel is a quiet guy making some serious noise with his bat in his first season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Never was he louder than Saturday night when he became the seventh player in Diamondbacks history to homer three times in a game, driving in six runs as Arizona dominated the Houston Astros for the second straight game, 12-3.
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In a home park that loves a left-handed hitter, Kubel came out swinging when he came from Minnesota as a free agent and has emerged as one of the most effective sluggers in the National League.
"I put some good swings on some balls, some balls up," he said. "The balls I was missing yesterday, I wasn't missing tonight. I'm just happy with how it turned out. It was a fun win for us."
Kubel hit a two-run home run in the first inning and a three-run shot in the fourth off starter Dallas Keuchel (1-2). He added a solo homer off reliever Enerio Del Rosario in the sixth. Left-handed pitchers such as Keuchel are supposed to have an advantage against left-handed hitters. Kubel's power display defied that conventional wisdom.
"You don't see many games like that," Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. "He just loves the fastball and was seeing it good. The second one was pretty impressive. It looked like it was in on him as well. He gets the bat there really quick, to all fields. He's got a very short stroke and he gets the barrel to the ball."
With the first three-homer game of his career, Kubel leads the NL with 70 RBI.
"I'm hoping to do more. We've got a good amount of baseball left," he said. "As long as guys keep getting on base for me, then hopefully I can keep going. I definitely like the park a lot. I like the team. It's great. There's great chemistry here. I definitely like what they did last year and I think we've still got it in us this year."
Wade Miley (11-5) gave up a run and four hits in seven innings, striking out a career-high nine while setting a franchise rookie record for victories.
The Astros lost their fifth straight and 18th in 20 games.
Kubel, signed as a free agent in the offseason, is one of six players to hit three home runs in a game this season. That includes Josh Hamilton, who hit four. Kubel has 20 home runs, including a two-homer game Thursday in Cincinnati.
Willie Bloomquist went 3-for-4 with three RBI for the Diamondbacks. Aaron Hill singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.
The Diamondbacks, on the opening weekend of a 10-game homestand, have outscored the Astros 25-11 in the first two games of the series.
After walking six in Friday night's 13-8 loss, Houston walked eight on Saturday. Of those 14, 10 scored, four on Saturday.
"My command today down and away with the sinker was poor, to say the least," Keuchel said. "I made some mistakes over the plate with runners on and that hurt me."
Keuchel, called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City for the start after J.A. Happ was sent to Toronto on Thursday in a 10-player trade, allowed seven runs and seven hits and walked four in 3 1/3 innings.
Kubel gave Miley a quick lead in the first. Hill walked with one out, then the Arizona slugger hit Keuchel's 2-2 pitch just over the fence in left field, a two-run opposite-field shot,
The Astros cut it to 2-1 in the fourth. Justin Maxwell led off with a grounds-rule double and J.D. Martinez walked. Miley got Ben Francisco to pop out, then fanned Matt Downs, but Chris Johnson's single brought Maxwell home. Chris Snyder walked to load the bases before Keuchel grounded out to end the inning.
Kubel's first-pitch homer highlighted Arizona's five-run fourth inning that made it 7-1. Arizona added two in the fifth on Bloomquist's single that brought home Chris Young and Ryan Roberts, both of whom had walked. Kubel hit a 2-2 pitch over the fence in left-center leading off the sixth to make it 10-1. The crowd of 35,665 stood and cheered until Kubel came out and tipped his cap in appreciation.
Third base umpire Kerwin Danley left in the middle of the sixth inning to attend to an unspecified personal matter.
Notes
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| Jason Kubel's six RBI in the Diamondbacks' victory gives him a National League-leading 70 on the season. (US Presswire) |
| Players of the Game |
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| Houston Astros | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Jose Altuve, 2B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .289 |
| Brian Bixler, SS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .198 |
| Justin Maxwell, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .228 |
| J.D. Martinez, LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .239 |
| Ben Francisco, RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .236 |
| Matt Downs, 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .206 |
| Chris Johnson, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .265 |
| Chris Snyder, C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .175 |
| Dallas Keuchel, P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 |
| Fernando Rodriguez, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Enerio Del Rosario, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| a- Marwin Gonzalez, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .287 |
| Wilton Lopez, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Rhiner Cruz, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| b- Carlos Corporan, PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .364 |
| Totals | 35 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 10 | ||
| a-grounded out for Del Rosario in the 7th | ||||||||
| b-singled for Cruz in the 9th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Jose Altuve (22, Miley), Justin Maxwell (7, Miley), Chris Johnson (18, Breslow) | ||||||||
| RBI - Justin Maxwell (26), Chris Johnson (36), Carlos Corporan (4) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Chris Johnson (19), Carlos Corporan (2) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 8 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Bixler-Altuve-Downs, Altuve-Bixler-Downs | ||||||||
| E - Dallas Keuchel (1, Misplayed grounder) | ||||||||
| Houston Astros | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Dallas Keuchel (L,1-2) | 3.1 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4.03 |
| Fernando Rodriguez | 1.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6.38 |
| Enerio Del Rosario | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6.57 |
| Wilton Lopez | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.23 |
| Rhiner Cruz | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.16 |
| Pitches-Strikes - Dallas Keuchel 79-45, Fernando Rodriguez 29-17, Enerio Del Rosario 29-16, Wilton Lopez 11-9, Rhiner Cruz 20-15 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Dallas Keuchel 6-3, Fernando Rodriguez 1-3, Enerio Del Rosario 1-1, Wilton Lopez 2-0 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Dallas Keuchel 21, Fernando Rodriguez 8, Enerio Del Rosario 5, Wilton Lopez 4, Rhiner Cruz 6 | ||||||||
| Arizona Diamondbacks | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Willie Bloomquist, SS | 4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .304 |
| Aaron Hill, 2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .309 |
| a- Ryan Wheeler, PH-3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .200 |
| Jason Kubel, LF | 5 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .294 |
| Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .297 |
| Justin Upton, RF | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .274 |
| Gerardo Parra, RF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .276 |
| Miguel Montero, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .268 |
| Henry Blanco, C | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .207 |
| Chris Young, CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .212 |
| Ryan Roberts, 3B-2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .249 |
| Wade Miley, P | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .306 |
| Takashi Saito, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Craig Breslow, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 34 | 12 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 3 | ||
| a-grounded out for Hill in the 7th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Paul Goldschmidt (29, Cruz), Henry Blanco (3, Cruz), Chris Young 2 (14, Keuchel, Cruz) | ||||||||
| 3B - Justin Upton (3, F. Rodriguez) | ||||||||
| HR - Jason Kubel 3 (20, Keuchel, Keuchel, Del Rosario) | ||||||||
| SF - Willie Bloomquist (2) | ||||||||
| SH - Wade Miley (5) | ||||||||
| RBI - Willie Bloomquist 3 (16), Aaron Hill (45), Jason Kubel 6 (70), Henry Blanco (6), Chris Young (22) | ||||||||
| 2-OUT RBI - Henry Blanco (3), Chris Young (7) | ||||||||
| SB - Chris Young 2 (5, 2nd base off F. Rodriguez/Snyder, 3rd base off F. Rodriguez/Snyder), Ryan Roberts 2 (6, 2nd base off Keuchel/Snyder, 2nd base off F. Rodriguez/Snyder) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 8 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| E - Henry Blanco (2, Missed catch of throw) | ||||||||
| Arizona Diamondbacks | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Wade Miley (W,11-5) | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 3.02 |
| Takashi Saito | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Craig Breslow | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.90 |
| Pitches-Strikes - Wade Miley 107-68, Takashi Saito 23-14, Craig Breslow 30-18 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Wade Miley 8-4, Takashi Saito 1-2, Craig Breslow 1-1 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Wade Miley 27, Takashi Saito 5, Craig Breslow 6 | ||||||||
| Game Information |
| Attendance - 35665 |
| Game Time - 3:12 |
| Temperature - 79 |
| Umpires - Home - Paul Nauert, First Base - Dana DeMuth, Second Base - Doug Eddings, Third Base - Kerwin Danley |
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