HOUSTON - For one night, the Houston Astros looked like a first-place team again.
That wasn’t supposed to be the story on a day they sent down a prized offseason pickup, rolled out a lineup where the final five hitters carried a .670 OPS, and openly talked about all the holes still staring back at them. Yet there they were Friday night, sitting atop the AL West after an 11-2 rout of the Texas Rangers, a result that came with a little more weight than the standings page might suggest.
The win gave Houston the regular-season series over Texas and locked up the tiebreaker. It also kept the Silver Boot trophy in Houston, a detail the scoreboard made sure to announce after the game. Hunter Brown, who handled the Rangers for 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball, even had to ask the obvious question.
“Does it exist?” Brown said. “Is there a real trophy?”
It does, and it lives in the Astros’ team store. The bigger prize, of course, is the one Houston is chasing now: a division lead that would have sounded unlikely not long ago.
This season has been messy from the start. The Astros have already used a major-league-high 15 starting pitchers.
Their rotation carries the highest ERA in the American League, and the outfield has been one of the worst offensive groups in baseball. Even after Friday’s blowout, Houston is still minus-32 in run differential.
And yet the club keeps finding a way to stay upright.
“They just come to work every day with the right attitude, right mindset,” manager Joe Espada said. “They’re tough. They stay together.”
That kind of line can sound like empty clubhouse wallpaper, but the results have given it some bite. Houston moved above .500 for the first time since April 6, and since May 20 - when the team was 11 games under .500 - no American League club has posted a better winning percentage. The Astros have gone 36-24 in that span and flipped the conversation around a season that had been drifting the wrong way.
“I’m just proud of our effort,” Espada said, noting that both he and general manager Dana Brown are in the final season of their contracts. “There’s still baseball, but we’re pausing and reminding them, ‘We’ve worked really hard to get to this point, but we have to come back here tomorrow and do it again and continue to do that.’ How far we’ve come, I’m extremely proud of our team.”
There’s still plenty of baseball left, and Jeremy Peña made sure not to let anyone confuse first place with finished business.
“This team has battled very hard to get back to this position,” Peña said. “This is not time to let off the gas.
It’s time to keep playing ball. There’s a lot of season left.
We know what can happen in two months. We have to keep going and play good baseball.”
Peña’s own presence has mattered more than the numbers alone can show. He is one of only three active Astros position players worth more than two wins above replacement, according to both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference, and he has done that while missing time twice on the injured list and appearing in just 63 games. Houston is 36-27 in the games he has played and 20-28 in the others.
The supporting cast around the lineup’s biggest names is still a work in progress. Yordan Alvarez, who reached base four times Friday, remains the front-runner for American League MVP.
Isaac Paredes added two hits and pushed his OPS to .780. Beyond those bats, though, Dana Brown’s top priority before Monday’s trade deadline is obvious: find more offense to put around them.
Pitching help would make sense too, but the question is whether Houston has enough money or prospect capital to pull off the kind of shopping trip it needs.
If anyone can answer that, it may be Jim Crane. The owner spent much of the middle innings Friday in separate huddles with assistant general managers Connor Huff and Gavin Dickey, and he has never been shy about acting when the Astros have a shot.
He approved the Zack Greinke deal, authorized two trades for Justin Verlander, and last July pushed through the reunion with Carlos Correa. Crane has built a reputation as one of the most aggressive deadline owners in the sport, especially when he thinks a championship is in reach.
For now, the Astros have first place, the tiebreaker over Texas, and a little more breathing room than they had a few weeks ago. They also have a lot of work left to do.
In Other News...
Astros Finally Filled A Need But Fans Will Debate The Cost
The Astros made a late push to address their outfield mix by landing Daulton Varsho from the Blue Jays shortly before the trade deadline, a move that gives Houston a needed upgrade as it tries to position itself for the stretch run. Varsho brings immediate help and should slide in as a short-term addition, giving the club another option in a spot that had been needing attention.
The price, though, is the part that will keep the conversation going around Houston. The deal is still working its way through medical review, and the return sent to Toronto was significant enough to make this feel like more than a routine deadline add. For a team that has spent years balancing win-now moves against future value, this one lands squarely in the middle of the familiar Astros debate. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Lose Key Behind The Scenes Voice At A Tough Time
Amid a season that already has demanded plenty of patience, the Astros have lost another important voice from their dugout support staff. Dan Hennigan, the clubs Director of Hitting and Offensive Coordinator, is out after taking an assistant coaching job at Wake Forest, with manager Joe Espada saying Sunday was Hennigans final day on the job.
Houston will keep its current hitting structure intact, with Victor Rodriguez and Anthony Iapoce remaining in their roles as hitting coach and assistant hitting coach. Chuckie Caufield will absorb some of Hennigans duties around the major league team, leaving the Astros to adjust on the fly while trying to keep their offensive work steady through the rest of the season. [Read more 🡒]
Astros Interest In Logan Webb Just Ran Into One Huge Problem
With the trade deadline drawing closer, Logan Webb has surfaced as a name worth watching for clubs looking to add pitching, and the Astros are among the teams said to be interested. Houston has been linked to the San Francisco right-hander along with Atlanta, a reminder that frontline starters tend to draw attention quickly when the market starts to thin out and contenders start checking on every available arm.
The problem for Houston is that San Francisco does not appear inclined to entertain much discussion. Webb is viewed internally as too important to move because of his contract and his place in the Giants' plans, which makes any pursuit a steep climb from the start. Webb has also made clear he wants to stay with the Giants, so even with outside interest building, this feels like one of those deadline whispers where the asking price may never even be the real issue. [Read more 🡒]