July 10, 2003

Former Duke standout Chris Capuano earned his first major league victory for the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, allowing three hits in seven innings of work after being called up earlier in the day from Class AAA Tucson. In his second career major league start, Capuano struck out eight and allowed no walks while giving up just one unearned run as the Diamondbacks defeated the San Diego Padres, 8-3, in Phoenix.

Capuano worked out of a jam in the first inning, partly caused by his own odd defensive mistake that led to an unearned run. He retired the last 10 hitters to face him and struck out eight without allowing a walk.

Fellow Duke alum Quinton McCracken pinch-hit for Capuano in the bottom of the seventh after Capuano threw 99 pitches, 68 for strikes. McCracken singled and scored to give the Diamondbacks a 7-1 edge.

"He had a real good idea of what he was doing after the first inning," Arizona manager Bob Brenly said of Capuano. "He was shaky (in the first inning), but I think we can chalk that up to nerves. But once he got going out there, he, like a lot of our other young pitchers, showed that he's got a real good idea of what he's doing out there."

Capuano's only mistake led to an unearned run in the first. With one out and San Diego runners on first and second, shortstop Alex Cintron bobbled Brian Buchanan's hard grounder. When Cintron recovered to throw out Buchanan at first, Capuano was charged with an error for defensive interference after colliding with Buchanan about 15 feet before Buchanan reached first. Buchanan, who was out by several feet, was awarded first on the play. Sean Burroughs followed with a soft grounder to first that scored Mark Loretta from third.

"It's second nature for me to go back up the play at first base," Capuano said of the play. "When he ran into me, I was really mad at myself. It was like a free out. I was just happy to get out of there with minimal damage."

Capuano started 33 games on the mound for the Blue Devils from 1997-99 and ranks seventh on Duke's career chart with 251 strikeouts. An eighth-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 1999, Capuano made his major league debut in May.

Jim Richards of MLB.com contributed to this article.