After spending all summer dumping players, the Houston Astros didn't stop there.

Brad Mills became the latest to go when the struggling Astros fired their manager and two members of his coaching staff Saturday night.

Mills was in his third season running the Astros, who have the worst record in the major leagues at 39-82. The team announced the moves in an email almost two hours after Houston lost 12-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The club also fired hitting coach Mike Barnett and first base coach Bobby Meacham. First-year general manager Jeff Luhnow named Tony DeFrancesco, manager of Houston's Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City, as the interim replacement.

Players were not told directly about the changes before they left the ballpark Saturday night. Two of them told The Associated Press they learned about Mills' dismissal on Twitter.

Mills became the first big league manager to be fired this season. He was 76-86 in his first season with Houston and a franchise-worst 56-106 last year. He took over for Cecil Cooper, who was also fired during the season, as was his predecessor Phil Garner.

The Astros got off to a rough start again this year but really went into a tailspin during the summer after trading several high-priced veterans mostly for prospects. They have slashed almost $40 million from their opening-day roster and have a remaining payroll of just $21.3 million.

Francisco Cordero and Jed Lowrie, two of Houston's three highest-paid players, are on the disabled list. That leaves Ben Francisco as the only active player making more than $750,000.

Luhnow traded Carlos Lee to Miami on July 4 as the Astros went all in on their rebuilding effort under new owner Jim Crane. They have gone 7-32 since that deal, including a franchise-worst 12-game losing streak.