Mark Reynolds, Dan Haren lead Arizona Diamondbacks past Houston Astros 8-1

Reynolds helps Diamondbacks defeat Astros 8-1

PHOENIX — Dan Haren pitched his first career two-hitter, Mark Reynolds drove in five runs with a homer and three doubles, and the Arizona Diamondbacks routed the Houston Astros 8-1 on Friday night.

Haren (5-4) picked up his eighth career complete game and second this season. He entered with a 2.33 ERA, tied for the league lead with Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto.

Reynolds doubled in the first, third and fifth innings against Mike Hampton (4-5). He hit a towering three-run homer to left off Brandon Backe in the sixth to give the Diamondbacks a 6-1 lead.

Chris Young followed with a solo shot to the same area two pitches later, the third time this year the Diamondbacks have hit back-to-back homers.

Gerardo Parra also homered and had three hits for Arizona.

That turned out to be more than enough support for Haren, who watched the bullpen blow a 6-1 lead in his last start and a 5-1 lead the start before that.

Dazzling the Astros with an array of breaking pitches and fastballs, Haren struck out seven and walked two in a 112-pitch outing.

Haren retired 11 of the first 12 men he faced, with Carlos Lee reaching on Ryan Roberts’ error in the second. Lee connected in the fourth — tying Lance Berkman for the team lead with 11 homers — and Berkman followed with a single.

Haren closed with a flourish, retiring the last 11 batters, with a Chase Field crowd of 22,225 on its feet as Hunter Pence grounded to second to end the game.

The Diamondbacks did most of their damage with two outs.

Arizona pushed across two runs in the first. After Felipe Lopez led off with a single and Stephen Drew walked two outs later, Reynolds drove them in with a double into the gap in left-center.

Reynolds hit a two-out double in the third and scored on Chris Young’s double to make it 3-0.

Hampton left after five innings, yielding three runs and eight hits with a season-high five walks.

NOTES: Houston RHP Jose Valverde, out since April 26 with a strained right calf, will be activated in time for Saturday’s game. The Astros plan to use the righty in one non-save situation before he returns to his closer role. … Astros LHP Wandy Rodriguez will start the opener of a three-game series at Texas on Tuesday. … Houston INF Kaz Matsui, on the 15-day DL with a strained right hamstring, was to play his third rehab game at Double-A Corpus Christi on Friday. He’s scheduled to rejoin the Astros on Tuesday. … Arizona 1B Tony Clark, out since May 5 with an injured right hand, began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Reno on Friday.