Hampton Hits Astros To Win

Mike Hampton didn't wait for his teammates to supply the offense Thursday.

"I can't say enough about what Hampton did today," Houston manager Larry Dierker said after Hampton hit a go-ahead two-run double and pitched eight strong innings to lead the Astros over the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2.

Hampton (2-1) allowed just one earned run and four hits, struck out seven and walked none as Houston won for the third time in the four-game series.

"I left everything out on the field," he said. "Over the past four years, there have been times when I got up for the 2-3-4 hitters and sometimes overlooked other guys."

"I'm concentrating on every hitter, every pitch. Today my cutter was working good and I was able to move it in and out. When I do that, I can get ground-ball outs. When I don't, I can give up some long fly balls."

Hampton lowered his ERA from 4.94 to 3.98. The Astros needed him to pitch deep into the game because the bullpen was short following Wednesday night appearances by Scott Elarton, Jay Powell and Billy Wagner.

"I didn't even have to say anything to him, he knew because we'd used several last night we wouldn't have those guys available to throw many pitches today," Dierker said. "He pitched right through Powell's and Elarton's innings. He's just an outstanding athlete."

After Matt Williams' leadoff homer in the second his eighth home run of the season Hampton got nine groundouts and four strikeouts among his final 21 outs.

"Hampton had everything at his disposal today, he was outstanding," Arizona manager Buck Showalter said. "He had a good fastball and his cutter was coming in on our right-handed hitters. After the first inning we knew he had pretty good stuff."

Hampton helped himself with a go-ahead double in the second. With two outs, Tony Eusebio and Tim Bogar drew walks from Omar Daal (2-2) and Hampton hit a liner into the left-center field gap for a 2-1 lead.

"He mad me look pretty silly on a breaking ball," Hampton said. "Most times when you throw a breaking ball to a pitcher, you're going to strike him out. He gave me another one and fortunately I was able to get the bat on it."

Hampton is a career .191 hitter but hit .262 last season with two RBIs. He already has three RBIs this year but is hitting .222.

"Hampton is about a good enough hitter that he probably could have made it as a position player, especially with his footspeed," Dierker said.

Wagner followed and struck out the side in the ninth for his seventh save. On Wednesday night, he allowed five runs without getting an out in a 10-6 loss to Arizona.

"It was important for me to get right back out there and prove last night was a fluke," Wagner said.

Daal (2-2) lasted 5 2-3 innings, giving up five runs and 10 hits. He struck out three and walked four. Houston chased him with three runs in the sixth. Ken Caminiti, who had three hits, led off with a single but was thrown out when he tried to score on Carl Everett's double.

Eusebio walked, Bogar hit an RBI single and Craig Biggio added a two-run double for a 5-1 lead.

"The control was the problem, I was behind most of the lineup today," Daal said. "The last four hitters in their lineup I was behind them every time."

The Diamondbacks got an unearned run with two outs in the eighth when Kelly Stinnett reached on Caminiti's throwing error at third and scored on pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn's single.

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