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Hernandez outstanding as Diamondbacks sweep Astros

May 28, 2007 - 1:23 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- Livan Hernandez finally had some success against the Houston Astros.

Hernandez tossed his 43rd career complete game and Carlos Quentin homered to highlight a three-run fifth inning for the Arizona Diamondbacks, who sent the Astros to their season-high eighth straight defeat with an 8-4 victory on Sunday.

Chris Young added an RBI single for Arizona, which completed a four-game sweep and outscoring Houston, 34-10, in the series.

A former World Series MVP, Hernandez (5-2) is known for pitching deep into games. He also has shown the ability to anchor a staff, but against the Astros it has been a different story.

"I had a tough time against those guys the last time I faced them," Hernandez said. "They are a good hitting team and I had to be careful where I threw the ball. I was able to put everything together and did not make the same mistakes I made against them the last time."

The Cuban righthander has gone just 1-2 with a 7.77 ERA in his last four starts vs. Houston entering this contest. However, his last time out, he showed some glimpses of his former dominant self.

Hernandez allowed just one run and nine hits in eight innings with a season-high eight strikeouts, but did not factor into the decision as Arizona fell, 3-1, to Colorado on Tuesday.

He carried his good stuff over to Sunday's game, yielding four runs - three earned - and 11 hits, while striking out two without walking a batter. It was the righthander's first complete game since September 20, 2005, against his former team, the San Francisco Giants.

"The complete game does not matter much to me. I have had them before," Hernandez said. "It is more important that we won, we are playing well and everybody is doing their job, the pitchers, hitters, everyone."

After Conor Jackson started the fifth with a walk, Quentin, who committed an error in the fourth inning that gave the Astros an early lead, delivered a mammoth shot into deep left center off Astros ace Roy Oswalt (6-4).

Miguel Montero followed with a double and, after Hernandez moved him to third with a groundout, Young stroked a run-scoring single to make it 3-1.

"It goes through your head because in the outfield that can't happen and, yes, you want to redeem yourself," Quentin said. "You go up there and try not to do too much (and) just slow down. I just wanted to put a good swing on it. I didn't want to overswing and it carried."

After Houston tallied in the top of the seventh to move within a run, Arizona blew the game open in the bottom of the frame, tacking on four runs to make it 7-2. Rookie Alberto Callaspo, Eric Byrnes and rookie Mark Reynolds each provided RBI singles in the inning.

Oswalt allowed six runs - five earned - in six frames, while walking two and striking out two.

"I was pretty bad today. I wasn't making quality pitches when I needed to," Oswalt said. "Right now the pitching staff as a whole is putting a lot of pressure on themselves. Instead of going out there and pitching, we are putting pressure on ourselves trying to throw a shutout every time, and you can't do that. You have to go out there and throw a quality start. Everybody is pressing big time."

Rookie Hunter Pence and Adam Everett stroked two hits apiece for the Astros, who have been outscored, 65-14, during their skid.

"We are having a tough time, no question. It has been an awful run. A no-good, lousy week," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "The good news is it's over, and we will go home where we need to get something going."

The Diamondbacks completed their second four-game sweep of the season. In the four games, they had 40 hits and batted 22-for-48 with runners in scoring position.

"We did it against some pretty good pitchers, too. Our bats just seem to be better," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "In Pittsburgh it seemed like the monkey was off our back a bit. We had two games in Colorado where we didn't swing the bats very well, but from that point on we feel like we have a chance to score every inning.

"It is everyone, too. When the guys in the bottom of the order are swinging all right, you feel no matter what inning it is, what part of the game it is, you have a chance to score."