Astros Promote DeFrancesco to Replace Mills

The Houston Astros have promoted Triple-A affiliate head coach Tony DeFrancesco to serve as interim manager after releasing Brad Mills Saturday.

In three seasons with Houston, Mills ended with a 171-274 record and was on the losing end of 59 of his last 76 games. Hitting coach Mike Barnett and first base coach Bobby Meacham were also released.

The Astros currently hold the worst record in baseball at 39-83 and have only won 7 games since July 4.

The 49-year-old DeFrancesco has been a manager in the minor leagues for 17 seasons and managed Oklahoma City since 2011. He was the manager of Triple-A Sacramento for seven seasons before joining Oklahoma City where he won one Triple-A championship, three Pacific Coast League championships and six PCL Southern Division titles.