Could this be the series that changes the season for the Houston Astros? It’s been an extremely difficult first two months of the 2026 season for Houston, but it feels like something could be changing.
After going down a season high 11 games under .500 after another series loss, this time to the Minnesota Twins, the hole just seemed to be getting bigger. A daunting three-game road trip to Wrigley Field to take on the Chicago Cubs, who were one of the better teams in the National League, lay ahead.
It surprisingly turned into the best series of the season for the Astros, so much so that some belief has returned around Houston. Everything finally came together.
A Rare Astros Series Sweep
The Astros swept the Cubs in a three-game series at Wrigley and were by far the better team in every aspect. They improved to 23-31 on the season overall. This was the first series sweep since the second series of the season against the Boston Red Sox from March 30-April 1. This was the first time the Astros won a game at Wrigley Field since 2013 and the first sweep at Wrigley since 2011. Success has not been easy there.
Bring out the brooms, y’all!
🧹🧹🧹 pic.twitter.com/TGPjaqU7U8
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 24, 2026
Nothing has come easy for this year’s group. Every win seems so hard-fought. The Astros just played some good baseball up in Chicago, and that could propel them towards the winning momentum needed to turn the season around. Houston won the first game 4-2, then won the series with a 3-0 win on Saturday and wrapped it up with an 8-5 win on Sunday afternoon. The Astros are now 7-4 in their last 11 games.
Here are two takeaways from this critical series sweep.
1. Starting Pitching Consistently Delivered
This has arguably been the biggest issue all season for the Astros. The starters are unable to go deep into games, which just hurts the entire pitching staff. That was completely different in this series. All three starters came through.
It started with the Astros’ current ace, Spencer Arrighetti. He’s flat out been one of the best pitchers in baseball. Arrighetti didn’t have his best stuff or command on Friday, but powered through five shutout innings and gave up just two hits. He did walk four and hit two batters, but had five strikeouts. Arrighetti threw 89 total pitches and had 53 strikes.
The 26-year-old now has a 6-1 record in seven games, as well as a 1.32 ERA. Both are among the best in Major League Baseball. Kai-Wei Teng pitched the next day and has been stretched out as a starter. He initially started in the bullpen and has continued that success in the rotation.
A New Starter to the Rotation
Teng had the best and longest start of his career against the Cubs with six shutout innings. He only gave up two hits, and one of them was on a dropped pop-up. Teng struck out six and also threw 89 pitches with 56 strikes. It’s now back-to-back wins for Teng after he threw five shutout innings against the Rangers. He’s gone 11 straight innings without giving up a run and his ERA has dropped to 2.19.
Six shutout innings for Kai-Wei. 🔥#ChaseTheFight pic.twitter.com/d0oFTyjjPG
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 23, 2026
Getting this outing from Teng was massive for the Astros, who have been looking for other starter options. He’s now locked into the rotation.
Peter Lambert closed out the series with a gritty outing. It wasn’t easy, nor was it his best day, but Lambert found a way to grind through five innings of three-run ball with 103 total pitches. The key was that he didn’t blow the game completely in favor of the Cubs and managed to survive some tough situations. This outing spared the bullpen and prevented them from pitching a much higher amount of innings.
Lambert gave up five hits, four walks, and a three-spot in the second inning. He found himself in massive trouble in the third with the bases loaded and a 3-2 count. Lambert’s biggest pitch was a strikeout that ended the third and kept the game alive for the Astros to come back.
A Productive Astros Bullpen
Additionally, the bullpen was reliable. They had the worst ERA in baseball, but that wasn’t the case in this series. Enyel De Los Santos was fantastic against the Cubs. He came through with a crucial 1.2 perfect innings in the first game after Steven Okert gave up two runs.
Bryan Abreu made two appearances and didn’t give up a run, although he allowed some traffic. Bryan King was the standout. He’s really delivered for the Astros as of late and had a clutch 1.1 inning save in the first game. King had another one-inning save the next day. De Los Santos also pitched another scoreless, perfect inning while Okert bounced back in the second game. Even back-to-back day workloads didn’t affect the back-end of the bullpen.
AJ Blubaugh gave up a two-run homer in the last game of the series but still got through two innings. Nate Pearson has looked effective with his high velocity and closed out the game and clinched the sweep. The pitching has generally improved over the past week or so. As long as multiple starters go deep, this pitching staff can be in decent shape.
2. Power and Timely Hitting
While the offense went into a slump earlier this month, it seems like the Astros might be out of it. Something that helped was getting starting shortstop Jeremy Peña and starting centerfielder Jake Meyers back. The Astros got contributions from across the board throughout the series, and in the first game, it was from the bottom of the lineup.
Starting catcher Christian Vázquez has had a great season and hit his ninth home run of the season, and added another hit from the ninth spot. Zach Cole added an RBI while Brice Matthews came up big with a pinch-hit RBI single.
It was the Christian Walker show in the second game. He crushed two home runs and was the entire offense with three RBIs. Walker hit a two-run homer in the first inning, followed by a solo shot in the fourth. He’s delivered and is the Astros’ RBI leader at the moment.
CHRISTIAN WALKER HALLELUJAH pic.twitter.com/87JkcZMF7u
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 24, 2026
New Contributors to the Astros Offense
While the Astros lineup didn’t look particularly great on Sunday, as Yordan Alvarez was given an off-day, that’s when they scored eight runs. The whole lineup contributed in some way. Meyers hit his second home run of the season, and Nick Allen surprisingly hit his first home run in over two years. Allen had three total hits as well as an RBI single in the ninth.
RAKE MEYERS. pic.twitter.com/xErAElVuTX
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 24, 2026
The big inning was the fifth, where the Astros tacked on five runs. Peña stepped up with a clutch two-RBI single with the bases loaded and two outs. The Astros were down 3-2 at that point and flipped the game. Walker continued to stay on a heater and crushed a 427-foot three-run blast that broke the game open. The Astros went up 7-3. That was his 14th home run of the season.
Peña puts the Stros on top! pic.twitter.com/pWFUTUYKX8
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 24, 2026
The key contributors for Houston all had their moments, and they most importantly came through with timely hits. The power returned with six home runs in the three-game series. The Astros additionally didn’t leave as many men on base (16) as the Cubs (22).
This is how you play like a winning baseball team. Alvarez has returned for the series against the Texas Rangers even after dealing with back spasms on Saturday, and this four-game stretch in Arlington is a great opportunity for the Astros to jump up in the AL West. The sweep over the Cubs can provide that boost for success.
Main Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
