“House” was a medical drama television series that was aired on Fox about a fictional doctor named Gregory House who had a unique way of teaching physicians how to solve medical issues by using his brilliant medical mind and unorthodox methods. Either way, he would always get the job done.

I think that Houston Astros starting pitcher Zack Greinke needs to add M.D. to the end of his name this season as he has had to operate from the mound in order to save the Astros bullpen. Greinke pitched eight brilliant innings as the Houston Astros (28-24) was able to salvage the last game of the three-game series against the San Diego Padres (34-20) with a 7-4 victory.

The 2009 Cy Young Award winner retired the first 11 out of the 12 batters he faced while only allowing one run and six hits as he improved his season record to 5-2.

“My command wasn’t, like, perfect with everything, but it was moving pretty good, and the location was solid,” said Greinke who threw 104 pitches on the day. “They were close on a decent amount of balls. They hit some far ones, but they went to center field. I was lucky it was to center field.”

For Astros manager Dusty Baker, command of the game was something he was happy to see after losing the previous two games to the Padres in extra innings with an ineffective bullpen who gave up 11 runs after the sixth inning on Saturday.

"Greinke was outstanding," Baker said. "We made some good defensive plays. We turned some double plays at the right moment, which helped him get through the eighth inning. We badly needed this to give the bullpen a rest because we didn't have like four guys out there."

Houston set the tone early on the Padres after outfielder Kyle Tucker hit an opposite field three-run homer to increase the Astros lead to 4-0. They added three more runs in the third inning as the lead grew to 7-0, giving Houston enough cushion to earn the victory.

"We just had really good at-bats today," said Tucker. "We didn't chase a lot, and when he (Padres pitcher Blake Snell) threw it over the plate, we had some really good swings.

The Astros schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Boston Red Sox comes to town for a four-game series that begins on Monday.