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Owings goes the distance; Diamondbacks crush Astros

May 25, 2007 - 6:09 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- After a shaky performance in his last start, rookie Micah Owings was dominant this time around.

Owings pitched his first career complete game and struck out a season-high eight batters as the Arizona Diamondbacks crushed the Houston Astros, 9-1, on Thursday.

Eric Byrnes had three hits and Stephen Drew drove in three runs for Arizona, which had only scored two runs in two prior losses against the Colorado Rockies.

It was an outstanding seventh major league start for Owings (3-1), who allowed nine hits and a walk while throwing 80 of 118 pitches for strikes.

"Micah came into the dugout after the eighth inning and said I am not coming out of this game," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "We were thinking about removing him, but he said he was good and wanted to finish."

It was much different than his last start, when the 24-year old righthander surrendered a season-high seven runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings before Arizona rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-8, on Saturday.

"My last outing was a little rough, a lot rougher, but tonight I was able to focus on each pitch," Owings said. "I was able to make some adjustments and that's what allowed me to stay in the game. Before I was trying to do too much and the results showed. Tonight I relaxed and trusted my defense."

The Diamondbacks scored four runs in the first inning off Houston starter Wandy Rodriguez. After Chris Young singled and Conor Jackson doubled, Orlando Hudson drove in a run with a ground out. Byrnes then tripled to right-center field for a 2-0 lead and rookie Mark Reynolds and Stephen Drew posted RBI doubles later in the frame.

"It was really important to get those runs early because we haven't scored a whole lot of runs lately," Byrnes said.

Byrnes singled home Hudson, who led off the fourth with a triple, to increase the lead to 5-1 and Drew added a two-run single during a three-run fifth.

Chris Snyder led off the sixth with his third homer of the season to cap the scoring.

Rodriguez (2-4), who had won his previous two starts, including May 13 against Arizona, was tagged for eight runs - five earned - and nine hits. He drove in the only run for the Astros, who have lost five straight games.

"Everything was bad for me tonight," Rodriguez said. "My curve was hanging, I missed my location a lot. We had three bad games in San Francisco so I wanted to come out and pitch better."

It was the second consecutive 9-1 loss for Houston.

"Our offense is sputtering," Astros manager Phil garner said. "Our offense is this close but we're not striking the ball well and not hitting in bunches, so we are having trouble scoring runs."