Saunders looks back on effort vs. Astros

By Anthony Fenech / MLB.com | 08/12/11

PHOENIX -- For the last couple of starts, Joe Saunders could have used a Band-Aid on the mound.

"Looking back," he said, assessing Thursday night's start against the Astros, "there was maybe one decently hard-hit ball and, other than that, it was off the end of the bat, broken bats, bloopers to right, bloopers up the middle and seeing-eye ground balls."

Saunders pitched into the seventh before being removed, after allowing back-to-back hits to score a run to open the inning. The D-backs eventually won, 8-5.

His final line was six-plus innings pitched, with five runs allowed on 11 hits and a pair of strikeouts and walks.

"You do your job, make your pitches, and that's all you can ask for," the left-hander said.

He allowed a third-inning RBI single to Carlos Lee, and got himself into trouble in the fifth by walking Brett Myers to open the inning. A two-run double by J.D. Martinez and an RBI groundout by Lee later, and the Astros had a 4-0 lead.

"They're a tough team to pitch to, honestly," Saunders said. "We found that out with our other guys.

"It was a battle out there," he continued. "I tried to keep us in the ballgame the best I could, and got as many outs as I could."

Saunders is 8-9 on the season with a 3.76 ERA.