Dbacks beat Astros 5-4 on Calhoun's single in ninth

Kole Calhoun lined a two-run single in the ninth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the Houston Astros 5-4 Thursday night to win their first series of the season.

Arizona trailed 4-3 after Alex Bregman hit a two-run homer off Stefan Crichton in the eighth inning. Junior Guerra (1-0) worked around an error in the ninth inning and the Diamondbacks loaded the bases against Ryan Pressly (0-1) in the bottom half.

Calhoun laid off a couple of pitches after falling into a hole and sent the Diamondbacks charging out of the dugout with a line drive to the corner in right.

Arizona starter Zac Gallen tied an NL record set by Montreal’s Steve Rogers (1973-74) by allowing three earned runs or less in his first 18 career starts. Gallen allowed two runs and six hits and struck out six in six innings.

Houston’s Jose Altuve, hitting .146 entering the game, hit a solo homer, doubled and scored three runs.

Astros starter Brandon Bielak was sharp in his first big league start after two relief appearances, allowing two hits in five innings.

The Diamondbacks took advantage after the rookie right-hander left.

Christian Walker hit a run-scoring double off Cy Sneed in the sixth and David Peralta tied it with a single through the right side off Blake Taylor. Andy Young followed with a groundout for his first big league RBI to put Arizona up 3-2.

Gallen allowed three earned runs in 10 innings his first two starts but did not factor in the decision in either. He struck out nine in six innings his last start and opened Thursday's game by striking out the side.

Gallen gave up a run-scoring single to Yuli Gurriel that hit the third base bag in the fourth inning and Altuve launched a solo homer off him in the sixth to put Houston up 2-0.

ROSTER MOVES

Arizona designated INF Ildemaro Vargas for assignment and optioned RHP Yoan Lopez to its alternate training site to get its active roster down to 28.

The Astros got down to the 28-player limit by optioning RHP Bryan Abreu and INF Jack Mayfield to their alternate training site.

TRAINING TABLE

Astros: Reigning AL rookie of the year Yordan Alvarez took batting practice and did some running at the team's alternate training site. He arrived at summer camp late for an undisclosed reason. ... RHP Jose Urquidy (undisclosed) has begun throwing off a mound.

UP NEXT

Astros: RHP Zack Greinke (0-0, 5.00 ERA) will start against Oakland on Friday after getting an extra day's rest.

Diamondbacks: RHP Luke Weaver (0-2, 14.73) looks to get his shaky start to the 2020 season on track in Arizona's series opener against San Diego on Friday.

Image credits: AP