ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — They won every which way, thrice by a run, twice by at least five and once while an out away from witnessing history. One strike separated the Houston Astros from one of the best sojourns of this seven-year golden era, a painful fact the next eight games eased.
Nine seasons had passed since the Astros went 8-1 during a nine-game road trip. Superteams in between could not accomplish what this short-handed bunch authored during nine days across Arlington, Boston and Tampa Bay.
The Astros began the tailspin of an intrastate rival, bludgeoned a burgeoning Red Sox club and, during the past three days, reaped the benefits of the Rays’ trade deadline selloff. The latest win required extra innings and almost everyone available on the active roster, embodying everything about this imperfect club cobbling a run like no other team that preceded it.
“That’s what great ballclubs do,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said, “find ways to win.”
Whether this one is great won’t be known for two months. Standards have become massive in Houston, where second-half winning streaks are almost treated as standard operating procedure. Pennants are the barometer by which all Astros teams are measured. This one has put itself back in position to procure another.
Sans both their best hitter and a future Hall of Famer, still seeking outfield continuity and craving separation in games that shouldn’t be so close, the Astros somehow own baseball’s longest winning streak. Eight consecutive victories have them 2 1/2 games up in a division they’ve long dominated, even if the path there shares few parallels with any that preceded it.
Dubi puts us on top!#Relentless pic.twitter.com/kMYSI3eGh0
— Houston Astros (@astros) August 15, 2024
Teams aren’t supposed to spiral in April and be back in prime position by mid-August, but the Astros’ aura of inevitability can make the impossible feel plausible. Following their latest win Wednesday, FanGraphs gave the Astros a 74.6 percent chance to win a division they once trailed by 10 games. Only two other American League teams have higher odds to win the World Series.
No club in baseball has a better record since April 27, the day first-year manager Joe Espada asked his 7-19 team to re-start its season during a two-game series in Mexico City. It is 58-36 since. Erasing a 10-game division deficit took 48 games, a process hastened by the Seattle Mariners’ miserable offense and fueled by a clubhouse conditioned to come together in critical moments.
“There’s urgency. There’s fire. There’s the finish line,” Espada said Tuesday. “There is a level of energy that I’ve seen this team have before.”
A day later, the true essence of this team appeared. After losing 14 of its first 19 one-run games, Houston has won eight of its past 12, the latest a 2-1 win Wednesday. Cliched as it sounds, the club is scrappy, foreign for a franchise that’s spent seven years making a difficult sport seem simple. This team makes nothing easy and can become too reliant on the superstars still healthy enough to play.
Alex Bregman, for instance, finished the road trip 16-for-41. When it began, he boasted a .717 OPS. Bregman ended it with a .763 mark, marred somewhat by an 0-for-4 showing Wednesday night that snapped a streak of four consecutive games with a home run.
Tampa gave Yordan Alvarez little to hit in his four plate appearances. For once, Yainer Diaz could not make them pay. Jose Altuve finished hitless, too, exposing this team’s biggest flaw. Without their contributions, the Astros managed two hits against a carousel of six Rays pitchers, but used five arms of their own to limit Tampa’s listless lineup to two hits.
Since June 1, only Seattle’s pitching staff has a lower ERA than Houston’s 3.46 mark. The Astros allowed four or fewer runs in every game of this road trip, prolonging a turnaround that started in early May. On Wednesday, closer Josh Hader collected the game’s final six outs on 29 pitches, already the fifth time this season he’s thrown multiple innings.
“I feel like we’ve picked each other up,” said Peña, whose fifth-inning solo home run represented the lineup’s only other production. “Our pitching staff picks us up. Our offense picks us up. I feel like we show up every single day and compete. That’s the only thing we can control. Just go from there.”
Not since 2017 had the Astros won a game while collecting just two hits. They’ve done it just 15 times in franchise history. Winning this way is not sustainable, so finding anyone else to contribute is crucial. Mauricio Dubón’s go-ahead single in the 10th snapped an 0-for-14 funk, but Chas McCormick’s four strikeouts sunk him further into a deep abyss.
Solutions aren’t abundant, especially as Kyle Tucker’s recovery from a shin contusion continues to plod along. Without him, though, Houston already has its largest division lead of the season Three games against an abysmal Chicago White Sox club await, affording the Astros their first real chance to create separation from Seattle atop the American League West.
Seizing advantage seems mandatory. After the White Sox leave town, Houston will play 14 consecutive games against the Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals.
Seattle’s schedule during that same stretch isn’t soft — a trip to Dodger Stadium and a home series against the San Francisco Giants are featured — but it is nowhere near as daunting as what awaits the Astros.
Creating some cushion would behoove them. The White Sox offer an ideal opportunity. Beating them feels like every team’s birthright. Accomplishing it would deliver the sort of season-defining winning streak worth celebrating, even for an Astros team with loftier aspirations.
(Photo of Victor Caratini and Josh Hader: Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)
