Astros-Diamondbacks Preview
The Arizona Diamondbacks are still looking for their first home win with Patrick Corbin on the mound.
He'll try and get that monkey off his back Tuesday when the Diamondbacks seek to complete a five-game homestand with a winning record as they meet the Houston Astros.
Arizona (23-30) has lost all four home outings by Corbin (2-4, 4.21 ERA), who is 0-3 with a 6.48 ERA in those games. He has surrendered eight homers over 25 innings at Chase Field, with opponents batting .310 against him.
The left-hander wasn't great in his last outing, giving up five runs over 5 2/3 innings in Thursday's 8-3 defeat at Pittsburgh.
Corbin has faced Houston once, yielding four runs in seven innings to earn a 12-4 road victory Aug. 18, 2012.
He has held the Astros' Carlos Gomez hitless in nine at-bats with four strikeouts. That's bad news for Gomez, who will be activated off the disabled list and is expected to start for the first time since May 15 after being out with a bruised left rib cage.
Gomez has been in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment.
"He feels healthy, he feels better and we're looking forward to getting him back," manager A.J. Hinch told the Astros' official website.
The Astros (23-29) have struggled against southpaws most of the season, but improved to 3-9 versus lefty starters with Monday's 8-3 victory at Arizona. They took advantage of rookie Edwin Escobar, who was tagged for eight runs in 3 1/3 innings in his first career start.
Jason Castro was 2 for 3 with three RBIs, George Springer was 3 for 4 and Carlos Correa drove in two runs to give him six RBIs in his last three games.
Houston has matched its longest win streak of the year at three with its sixth win in seven games.
Arizona fell to 2-2 on this homestand, which concludes Tuesday. These teams then travel to Houston to play two more games.
Paul Goldschmidt homered for the second time in three games. Eight of his 10 homers have come at home.
The Astros have won two of the last three road starts by Lance McCullers (1-1, 4.60) after dropping nine straight. One of those defeats was a 5-3 loss at Arizona on Oct. 4 in which he yielded three runs in five innings in a no-decision.
McCullers began the season on the disabled list with a sore right shoulder before being activated May 13. He got credit for his first victory Thursday with an odd five-inning stint in which he gave up one hit - a solo homer - with a career-worst six walks and 10 strikeouts in a 4-2 win over Baltimore.
Houston got the first complete game of Colin McHugh's career Monday as he pitched a five-hitter. It came at a good time since seven relievers combined for seven innings Sunday in an 8-6, 13-inning victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Astros' bullpen has a 1.35 ERA in the last 12 games.
''Our bullpen's been holding us up and to be able to give them a blow feels good," McHugh said.