After yearlong road struggles, D-backs’ Corbin holds Astros scoreless

All year long, manager Torey Lovullo has talked about coming through at critical times. After dropping two-straight games to the Houston Astros, one at home and one on the road, the Arizona Diamondbacks needed someone to step up and help start a winning streak.

Diamondbacks starting pitcher Patrick Corbin answered the bell Thursday.

Corbin, who has struggled all year long on the road, managed to hold the best offense in baseball off the scoreboard for 8.2 innings. The D-backs would rely on Archie Bradley to record the game’s last out in a 4-0 win.

Considering how drastic his home/road splits were coming in, it makes Corbin’s performance against the potent Astros that much more impressive.

Entering Thursday, Corbin was 2-8 with a 6.79 ERA on the road. Opposing batters had hit .333 against him in 57 innings. In 13 home starts, Corbin is 7-3 with a 2.87 ERA and an opposing batting average of .269.

Whether or not Corbin finds long-term success away from his home park remains to be seen, but he extended his scoreless innings streak to 16.1 innings and provided his team a much needed boost heading into a three-game series with the Minnesota Twins at Target Field beginning Friday.

The 28-year-old southpaw also has struggled with the long ball away from Chase Field. In 11 road starts prior to Thursday, Corbin surrendered 16 home runs, compared to just six given up in 13 games in Phoenix. The Astros managed just three singles and a double against him.

But putting Corbin’s struggles on the road this season aside, he has pitched well recently. In his last start against the Cubs on Aug. 12, the Clay, New York native threw 6.2 shutout innings and allowed five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.

However, in his first two starts this month, he struggled against the Cubs and the San Francisco Giants on the road but has obviously turned it around since.

Despite struggling in day games overall in 2017, Corbin has reversed his fortunes in that area too. He is 4-2 with a 2.88 ERA (13 earned runs/45.2 innings pitched) in his last six day outings with 51 strikeouts. After Thursday’s performance, two of Corbin’s four scoreless outings this season have occurred with the sun out.

Base Hits 

– It also helps to have support from your offense. When Corbin gets three or more runs of support this season, he is 10-3.

– The lefty has also had success against the American League away from home. Following Thursday’s win over Houston, Corbin is 3-2 with a 2.96 ERA in seven career interleague road games (six starts).