The Astros didn’t exactly blast past the Giants on Wednesday. They scraped, pieced it together and leaned on just enough offense to leave San Francisco with a 2-1 win - the kind of result that says a lot about where Houston is right now.
At 62-60, the Astros are suddenly the team sitting on top of the AL West, 1.5 games ahead of the Texas Rangers. For a division that spent the first four months with everyone hovering at or below .500, Houston is the club that has finally separated a little from the pack.
That was the backdrop for Joe Espada’s blunt assessment after the series win.
“Good teams find a way and we did,” Espada said, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “We finished strong this road trip -- (going) 3-3 -- and that’s what you want to do.
That was a team coming together and grinding. We used everyone in that ‘pen who was available, and we got the big hits when we needed the most.”
Houston’s trip ended at 3-3 after dropping two of three to the San Diego Padres before taking two of three from the Giants. And in the finale, the Astros won in a way playoff-bound teams often do in August: by surviving, not styling.
They were without Jose Altuve. They only managed four hits.
Espada burned through almost every arm he had available. Still, Houston got there.
The Giants scored first, with Bryan King taking the start and allowing a run in the opening inning. Enyel De Los Santos followed and worked a third of an inning, then Tatsuya Imai threw three scoreless, hitless innings before the rest of the bullpen closed it out.
The offense did just enough in the late innings. Nick Allen and Nelson Velázquez delivered RBI sacrifice flies in the seventh and eighth to turn a 1-0 deficit into a one-run win.
That’s the sort of game the Astros needed, and maybe the sort of game that helps define a season. The victory keeps them in first as they head home for a nine-game homestand against division rivals. Seattle, the Angels and Athletics are each coming in for three-game sets over the next 10 days, starting Friday.
If Houston can make noise in that stretch, the division lead could grow quickly. For now, though, the message from Wednesday was simple: the Astros found a way, and in the middle of a tight race, that can mean everything.
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