HOUSTON -- It's the Year of the Inside-The-Park Homer for the D-backs.
Second baseman Daniel Descalso hit an inside-the-parker off Astros right-hander Mike Fiers in the fourth inning of Thursday afternoon's 4-0 win at Minute Maid Park. It was the 14th inside-the-park home run in franchise history and the third one by the D-backs this season.
The D-backs are the 45th club to hit at least three in a season in the divisional era (since 1969). The most recent to do it was the 2014 Rays. The single-season record for a team is seven, done twice by the Royals, which they did in 1979 and '91 when they played their home games on artificial turf.

It was the first inside-the-park homer of Descalso's career, and as with most, it relied a bit on good fortune for him and some misfortune for Fiers and the Astros' defense.
Descalso's drive to right-center caromed off the Geico padded sign and rolled back toward center and away from center fielder Jake Marisnick.
"The one in the park was one of those things that bounced away from our outfielders pretty far and he was able to get around the bases," Fiers said.
It's possible there might have been a play at the plate, but Marisnick was unable to pick up the ball cleanly on his first attempt. By that point, Descalso was no longer watching but was instead keeping a close eye on third-base coach Tony Perezchica who was waving him home.

"I hit it good and it took a nice bounce for me, kicked off that wall hard and kicked towards center," Descalso said. "I just tried to go as fast as I could and watched T.P., and he kept waiving me, and in the end, we scored a run out of it."
The most recent D-backs inside-the-park homer was by David Peralta last Saturday against the Cubs at Chase Field.
On that one, Peralta slid (he described it as laying down) on home plate. Descalso scored his standing up.

So who was faster?
"You'd have to check with the Statcast™ people," Descalso said before breaking into a smile. "Mine was definitely more graceful. I didn't lay around and flop around in the box for like a minute."
Per Statcast™, Peralta rounded the bases fastest, going home to home in 15.57 seconds compared to Descalso's 15.93 seconds. Peralta had a sprint speed of 28.5 feet per second, while Descalso's was 26.5.

Descalsco's dinger was Arizona's first inside-the-park home run on the road since Kelly Stinnett on Aug. 29, 2005, in San Diego. The last time the D-backs had an inside-the-parker in Houston was in the Astrodome on July 21, 1999. Tony Womack hit the franchise's first inside-the-park home run that day.

Ketel Marte had the other D-backs inside-the-park homer this year on July 26 against the Braves at Chase Field.