Eduardo Rodriguez deals, Nolan Arenado powers Diamondbacks to series win over Astros

Eduardo Rodriguez delivered his 18th quality start of the season, and Nolan Arenado delivered a go-ahead two-run home run in the third inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks grinded out a series win over the Houston Astros with their 3-2 victory Sunday.

The Astros struck first thanks to a Yordan Alvarez home run, which tied the Tampa Bay Rays’ Junior Caminero for the most in the American League. However, Rodriguez shut Houston down after that, allowing just three baserunners after the first inning.

Arizona answered back immediately as Corbin Carroll led off the second inning with a double to left field. Astros’ left fielder Nelson Velasquez hesitated in the cutout by the Crawford boxes, and Carroll’s double bounced out of his glove.

Two sacrifice plays by Tommy Troy and James McCann brought Carroll home to plate the D-backs’ first run.

In the third inning, after Perdomo led off with a single and was knocked off the basepaths by a Ketel Marte line drive, Arenado delivered his two-run shot to give Arizona the lead, which would be the deciding runs.

Whatahomer: just like we like it. pic.twitter.com/3v1t7bGB74

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 6, 2026

Both teams’ offenses went quiet for the next four innings, with chances in the seventh inning but to no avail.

The Astros got one run back in the eighth thanks to a Jose Altuve double — the 2,499th hit of his career — and a couple of bloop singles.

Kevin Ginkel got the ninth and struck out the side, including Jeremy Pena and AL MVP favorite Alvarez, to close out the D-backs win.

Rodriguez finished his outing with one run allowed on three hits and two walks across six innings, with six strikeouts.

While Arizona only managed three runs, which was enough to win, the offense produced nine hits. However, the D-backs were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.

The Diamondbacks will now travel to Kansas City for an 11 a.m. Labor Day game against the Royals. Kansas City will have Noah Cameron starting Monday against Arizona, and the Diamondbacks have yet to announce their starter.

Listen to the game on 98.7 FM and the Arizona Sports app.

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