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Diamondbacks-Astros Preview

May 5, 2010 - 5:20 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Arizona (12-14) at Houston (8-17), 8:05 p.m. EDT

It's been 10 days since Brett Myers earned his first win with the Houston Astros. His team hasn't celebrated a victory since.

Myers will try to help the NL's worst club avoid a season-high ninth straight loss Wednesday night when they continue a four-game series with the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.

Myers (1-2, 3.82 ERA) allowed two runs and scattered 11 hits over six innings April 25 in a 10-3 home win over Pittsburgh. That victory helped Houston sweep the Pirates and get off to a 5-1 start on its previous homestand.

The Astros (8-18), though, dropped their final three games in that stretch, suffered a three-game sweep in Atlanta and have opened a seven-game homestand with back-to-back losses to the Diamondbacks (13-14).

After getting blown out 9-1 in the series opener, Houston's foundering offense struggled again in a 1-0 loss Tuesday - its fourth shutout loss this season. Justin Upton drove in the lone run on a 447-foot homer in the third inning.

The Astros have scored a major league-low 73 runs, only 13 during their losing streak and three in their four games this month.

Myers could use a little more help against Arizona, which has scored an NL-best 154 runs and will try for a season-high third straight win Wednesday. He's 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in five career starts against the Diamondbacks and gave up seven runs over five innings in his previous matchup, an 8-3 loss for Philadelphia on May 8, 2008.

The right-hander got only two runs in a 4-2 defeat in Atlanta on Friday, yielding home runs to heralded Braves rookie Jason Heyward and Nate McLouth.

"I made one mistake to Heyward. I tried to go in, but the ball came back over the middle," Myers told the team's website. "It ultimately was what did me in. One mistake can beat you, I guess."

His counterpart in Wednesday's game, right-hander Rodrigo Lopez (1-1, 4.50), made only one big mistake in his previous start, an 11-5 loss Friday in Chicago.

Lopez was charged with an error when he collided with first baseman Adam LaRoche on a missed pop fly in the sixth inning. That paved the way for Alfonso Soriano's go-ahead, three-run homer.

"It was high enough to make me think the infield would get there, but it was so loud I didn't hear anybody close to me until I was trying to catch the ball," Lopez told the team's website.

Of the six runs the right-hander allowed, only two were earned. He also gave up six runs - all earned - in an 8-6 loss to Philadelphia on April 25 but did not get a decision.

Lopez also gave up six runs and eight hits in four innings in his previous start in Houston, a 12-0 loss with Colorado on July 1, 2007. He also beat the Astros 5-1 with Baltimore on June 15, 2005, by limiting them to one run and four hits over eight innings.

It hasn't been that long since Houston last dropped nine in a row as it happened Sept. 13-22.