Diamondbacks take game one with shutout victory over Astros

The Arizona Diamondbacks are back in the win column with another win to start off a series.

The Diamondbacks started the “home and home” series against the Houston Astros with a 2-0 victory behind a dominant game from Zack Greinke.

Greinke exited the game after 6.2 scoreless innings. While Greinke has struggled to make it through seven complete innings, he struck out nine batters and only allowed five hits.

Greinke also earned the win, his first since July 29.

The Diamondbacks offense also struck first, which is something they’ve done in four of their last five wins.

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In Monday’s win, the offense got started in the second inning. With two outs, Daniel Descalso doubled, then he scored on a double off the bat of Ketel Marte.

Descalso and Marte hit their 14th and seventh doubles of the season, respectively. The team as a whole has hit over 200 doubles this season.

Continuing the trend, Paul Goldschmidt hit a double in the sixth inning, his 27th of the season. He scored on a double off the bat of J.D. Martinez, his 17th of the season.

But, the Diamondbacks weren’t done with doubles yet. While it didn’t result in a score, Jake Lamb hit a ground-rule double off of former teammate Tyler Clippard.

Clippard is a recent waiver-acquisition for the Astros to help their struggling bullpen. He was traded to New York Yankees from the Diamondbacks in 2016. He also spent some time with Chicago White Sox before joining the Astros.

While Clippard’s ERA is 4.27 and Lamb’s double, Clippard walked Goldschmidt, but then pitched out of the jam.

The Diamondbacks bullpen was almost flawless in the win as well. With just a two-run lead, the bullpen held the close lead.

Jorge De La Rosa closed the seventh inning for Greinke. Archie Bradley pitched yet another scoreless inning in the eighth and Fernando Rodney earned the save.

Overall, the bullpen faced nine batters, retiring seven of them.

The team now has a five-game lead in the Wild Card, but will look to continue this success tomorrow as Anthony Banda takes on Brad Peacock.