Alfonso Soriano continued to feast off D-backs pitching with a 3-for-4 outting today including two homers and four RBIs. For the series Soriano had four homers including at least one in the last three games.

Second base for the D-backs continues to be a hot spot. We know Kelly Johnson has been on fire, but Tony Abreu has been no slouch either. Starting today he went 2-for-5 with a run scored and is now batting .324 on the year after a hot spring. Stephen Drew also had a two hit game to go along with his two RBIs. Rusty Ryal started at first today and hit his first homer of the year.

The D-backs now head to Houston who has the worst record in the NL. Arizona came to Chicago just two games out of the lead in the NL West, but now trail the Padres by 5.

Bob Howry who pitched well in his last two outings allowed two runs on two hits including a two-run home run to Alfonso Soriano with two out in the seventh. Howry has now allowed at least two runs to score in 4 of his ten outings this year.

Juan Gutierrez would take to the mound in the eighth inning with a 5-5 tie and would allow two more runs to score. In his last seven innings Gutierrez has allowed eight earned runs.

Justin Upton knocked in two of the D-backs five runs including hitting his fourth homer of the year and Mark Reynolds went 2-for-4 with a walk and two solo home runs giving him a tie for the NL lead with teammate Kelly Johnson.

After starting out 3-1 on the current road trip the D-backs have now fallen to 3-3 with one more game tomorrow against the Cubs.

After the inning the Cubs turned a 4-2 deficit into a 6-4 lead. Catcher Chris Snyder would help close the gap in the top of the 7th to 6-5 with his fourth homer of the year but that would not last long. Over the next two innings Arizona relievers Blaine Boyer, Aaron Heilman and Kevin Mulvey would allow five runs on four hits five walks and Mulvey would allow two homers in his inning of work.

Shortstop Stephen Drew, third baseman Mark Reynolds and center fielder Cole Gillespie would each pick up two hits on the day for Arizona. The Diamondbacks send ace Dan Haren to the mound tomorrow against Cubs ace Carlos Silva.

If you were told one month into the season a D-back was going to be leading the NL in homers you would think maybe that batter would be LaRoche, or Mark Reynolds, or even Justin Upton. I doubt many would guess that batter would be second baseman Kelly Johnson with 9 homers. Johnson only hit eight round trippers all last season with the Atlanta Diamondbacks. Johnson was 4-for-5 with three RBIs in the leadoff position for Arizona who is now .500 on the season.

Last season catcher Chris Snyder lost his job to Miguel Montero after Snyder miss extended time with an injury and Montero left his mark at the plate. This season Snyder is looking to take his job back after Montero was injured earlier this year. Snyder was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and is now hitting .278 on the year.

The biggest difference from the double digit performance today and yesterday was the pitching. Ian Kennedy went eight innings and allowed five runs on six hits and a walk. Daniel Stange made his first appearance of the season in the ninth and was perfect in his one inning of relief.

For the Diamondbacks, Mark Reynolds would hit a double for the team early on and the team would be able to muster up seven hits but would not be able to get a run across the plate. Rusty Ryal would turn a double play on defense for the team but Mark Hallberg would ground into one at the plate. Despite Enright giving up all of the runs in the game, he was able to strike out four batters.

For the Cubs, Wells would go four innings, striking out one and walking two. The remainder of the Chicago pitching staff would be able to keep the Arizona bats quiet for the entire game. Chicago left fielder James Adduci would have two RBI for the team as both teams gave the majority of their rosters a chance to play.

The Diamondbacks looked solid the night prior and hope to bring that same type of play to Chase Field as they face the San Diego Padres for Opening Day. On the mound for the Diamondbacks will be Dan Haren and for the Padres will be former D-back Jon Garland. The sold out game promises to be an exciting game to kick of the regular season.

On the mound for the Diamondbacks would be Rodrigo Lopez as he faced Ryan Dempster. Both pitcher would perform well through three innings before Arizona would score in the fourth inning. Mark Reynolds would feel right at home at Chase driving a two-run shot that would give the D-backs the lead. Chicago would immediately make a pitching change as they make a solid effort to get back into the game.

The Chicago Cubs would remain scoreless through seven innings as Arizona would strike again in the bottom of the seventh with their new second baseman Kelly Johnson contributing with an RBI double. The Cubs would rally back in the eighth inning as Rosales would give up three runs, including a home run by Fukudome. Later that inning, the Diamondbacks’ Ryan Roberts would pinch hit for Conor Jackson as he nails a two-run homer top put Arizona back in the driver’s seat.

Reliever Chad Qualls would come into the game to wrap things up as he would get the save and the Diamondbacks would get the win in a nail biter at Chase Field.

On the positive side for the Rockies Jeff Francis went five shutout innings allowing three hits. Carlos Silva got the start for the Cubs and sent five scoreless innings allowing six hits and finished the season with a 3.80 ERA.

Angels’ pitcher Jered Weaver would pitch nearly flawless has he would strike out nine batters in five innings pitched, only allowing one hit. The Angels’ pitching staff would only allow two hits on the day as they brought their “A” game. At the plate Napoli, Bourjos, and Evans would all have two-run home runs in the Angel victory over the Cubs. Napoli’s homer would be his sixth of the spring.

In the seventh inning, the three runs scored by the Cubs would give them the lead over the Brewers. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Brewers would drive in eight runs as they run up the score against Chicago. The Cubs would be able to score just one more run in the ninth as they lose the game. The Brewers would come out on top by a score of twelve to seven.

Reds catcher Ramon Hernandez scored the only run of the day for the Reds in the fifth inning. Orlando Cabrera’s groundout scored Hernandez. Cubs outfielder Tyler Colvin has been battling all spring to make the team’s opening day roster, and batting over .450 most of the spring he has deserved the shot. Today he found out he made the big club and went 1-for-4with two RBIs. Third baseman Chad Tracy had been hot early in the spring but has been cooled off considerably lately and is now hitting .243 after another 0-for day.