If you had told me on Opening Day that the Astros would be a half-game ahead of the Mariners in the standings in late July, I would have assumed the Astros were overachieving. But, unfortunately, they are not. In fact, no one in the AL West is overachieving at the moment. Mediocrity at its finest.
A five-game win streak, including Saturday’s victory against the White Sox, has kept Houston in the AL West race. And for this team to win the division, they’ll need Hunter Brown to pitch more like he did tonight. For the first time since his return from the IL, Brown looked more like his AL Cy Young finalist self rather than a pitcher shaking off rust.
Seven innings, two hits, no runs, and seven strikeouts. 20 whiffs on 47 swings. In this economy? For the Astros? I’ll gladly take those results every fifth start. And I have a feeling they’ll need every ounce of it to do the improbable: win the division.
The bottom half of the lineup still needs some help, though. Or, in the case of this game, most of the lineup.
Thankfully, the White Sox couldn’t handle a groundball single to the outfield that led to three runs, breaking a scoreless tie in the sixth inning. In fact, Isaac Paredes’s two singles were responsible, in some shape or form, for scoring all four of Houston’s runs, adding another one in the eighth to make it a 4-0 game.
With Bennett Sousa and Bryan Abreu struggling at various points, with Chicago scoring a run in the ninth, Josh Hader was brought in for a two-out save. Ultimately, it didn’t matter, with the lefty closing the door and securing the victory.
And, just like that, the Astros are still in the mix. Whether that’ll continue is anyone’s guess.
Feature photo from Astros on X
I watched a different game. Paredes hit plated two earned runs, enough to win the game. The third run was in because of the CF error. Abreu’s trouble was an Allen’s error and Sousa’s trouble was a Spence’s error.
Cheers!
So who’s the bigger threat down the line? The Rangers who are leading the division? Or still the Mariners even though they’re 2.5 games back?
The Astros record in ’26 against the Rangers is 6-4. Against the Mariners 1-7.
We have 3 more games against the Rangers and 5 more against the Mariners