Kole Calhoun slugged a pair of homers for the second time in four games as the D-backs beat the Astros, 6-3, in Friday night’s series opener at Minute Maid Park.

Calhoun’s three-run homer in the fourth off former Arizona ace Zack Greinke erased a 2-0 Houston lead. Calhoun then added a solo shot in the eighth, which gave the D-backs some added insurance. He has five home runs over his past four games.

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“It's one of those runs every player looks for and I know that he's had this type of run before,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “It's contagious. And he's leading the charge and driving our bus to the right spot every single day.”

Here were three highlights from Arizona's victory:

Calhoun remains hot
Heading into the current six-game road trip, Calhoun had been swinging the bat better, but he’s taken it to another level this week.

It started Tuesday when Calhoun made his return to Angel Stadium, his home ballpark for the first eight years of his career. The former Angel smacked two homers in that game, and he had seven RBIs in that three-game series.

“I feel really good,” Calhoun said. “We can't really explain it, it’s just kind of [the] waves of baseball, man, and it's on a high right now. It's been a lot of fun going out and playing and putting some good swings on pitchers that get a lot of the plate, and I'm not missing right now."

Calhoun has 11 RBIs over the past four games, all of them via home runs.

“It's amazing,” first baseman Christian Walker said of Calhoun’s hot streak. “It's great. This is exactly who we thought he was going to be. It's definitely not a surprise, but I'm glad I can be on base and watch these balls fly over my head. Three-run homers, that'll put the team in a good spot for sure.”

Gallen back on track
Coming off the toughest start of his big league career thus far, Gallen was a bit out of sorts in the first inning as the Astros loaded the bases with no outs. However, he struck out Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Yuli Gurriel in order, with only one run scoring on a wild pitch.

After that, Gallen settled in and went six innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on six hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

In his previous start, Gallen allowed seven runs in five innings in a loss to the Mariners. He said he was rushing with his front side which impacted his command, so he developed a cue to keep himself on track.

“I was just doing what I was telling myself, just repeating that cue to myself over and over again,” Gallen said. “I thought I was doing it the first couple batters. I wasn't. So I just started to slow it down a bit more and just really emphasize that. Just trying to minimize damage was my goal.”

Getting a look at Greinke
The D-backs dealt Greinke to the Astros at the Trade Deadline in 2019, and this was the first time they had faced the right-hander since. He went five innings and gave up three runs, all of which came on Calhoun's homer in the fourth.

With Arizona out of the postseason hunt, a lot of its young prospects are getting significant playing time, so the lineup was much different than the last time Greinke put on a D-backs uniform.

But while Greinke may not have played with players such as Pavin Smith or Daulton Varsho, he sat in on Draft meetings while he was with the D-backs in which those players were discussed. Greinke, who enjoys the scouting process, liked to watch video on players Arizona was thinking of selecting and shared his thoughts with scouting director Deric Ladnier.

"It’s not many of the same names, at least in today’s lineup,” Greinke said. “[Ketel] Marte’s hurt and [Eduardo] Escobar is on the bench. Jake Lamb is gone now. It wasn’t too much different than a normal start, I guess. We got to face some of the prospects I remember from the Draft and stuff, which was neat, but players wise, a lot of them are different now.”