The four-game set between the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros was possibly the most anticipated series of the weekend. Two of the top teams in the American League faced off. However, the series ended up rather lopsided. Fresh off of a four-game sweep of the White Sox, the Astros look like one of the elite teams in MLB. The sweep pushes their winning streak to seven games. Throughout the streak, the Astros have played their best baseball–playing well in every facet of the game: offense, pitching, both starting and bullpen, and defense.
Dominant Offense
A consistent, well-rounded offense has been the calling card for Houston in 2021. The Astros boast one of the deepest lineups in all of baseball. All-Star candidates are up and down the lineup. They have scored 55 runs over their seven-game win streak, an average of almost eight runs per game. Their lineup is in the zone, but they aren’t even completely healthy. Kyle Tucker has only played one of the seven games due to a stomach bug that caused him to lose ten pounds. Alex Bregman missed the entire White Sox series after injuring his hamstring. He is expected to miss an extended period of time. This news would be devastating, but Houston has replacements who are filling in nicely.
Abraham Toro played in three of the four games against Chicago, and he had the best stretch of his young career. The young infielder went 7 for 11 with a walk, a home run, and five RBI. Chas McCormick had a power surge in the three games prior to the Chicago series, hitting three homers in that span. While he didn’t have as much offensive success in the past four games, he had plenty of defensive gems to make up for it. This Astros lineup still leads the league in a lot of offensive categories such as runs(399) and run differential (112).
Rotation Consistency and Bullpen Improvements
Houston’s young rotation has been pretty good throughout 2021, but they have had their best stretch over the past week. Over the past seven games, no Astros’ starter has given up more than three runs. There were three times in which a starter gave up only one earned run. Now that the starting rotation is fully healthy, they have options. They are currently in the middle of a stretch of 20 games in 20 days. Because they are in such a busy stretch, they will be using a six-man rotation for the foreseeable future. The rotation will consist of Zack Greinke, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr. Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, and Jake Odorizzi. This means Cristian Javier will continue to have a bulk relief role, as he has over the past few weeks. His bullpen role has really helped what was a struggling bullpen just a few weeks ago.
Overall on the season, the Astros 4.13 bullpen ERA is very middle-of-the-pack. This figure is just the 18th best in all of baseball. However, during their win streak, the bullpen has only allowed two earned runs. Behind some great, lengthy starts by the starters, the bullpen has been steadily improving. At the back end, Ryan Pressly has continued his great season, posting a 1.86 ERA and saving ten games.
Sparkling Defense
Defense has quietly been a strength of the 2021 Astros, and this trend has continued in recent games. Over the past four games, Houston has made two errors, and both of those errors came in the same game. Overall, the Astros have made the second-fewest errors in all of baseball with 29. They make the routine plays as well as the spectacular ones, which goes a long way to preventing runs and winning games.
This seven-game win streak brings Houston into a tie atop the AL West standings with the Oakland Athletics. The Astros are entering a stretch in which they wrap up June with ten games against the Baltimore Orioles and the Detroit Tigers. They are already 14-4 in June, and ending the month on a great note could put them in sole possession of the top spot in the AL West standings and possibly the AL as a whole.
“Main Photo”
Embed from Getty Images
Players Mentioned:
Ryan Pressly, Zack Greinke, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr. Jose Urquidy, Luis Garcia, Jake Odorizzi, Cristian Javier, Abraham Toro, Chas McCormick, Kyle Tucker, Alex Bregman,
