Taking eight of nine games against the Marlins, White Sox, and Angels is an excellent way to stay in the AL West race. And for getting back to .500 for the first time since early April. Whether that trend will continue against the Rangers this weekend, in arguably one of the most important series of the season thus far, is another matter.
But first, welcome back to Hayden Wesneski. Appearing in a Major League game for the first time since May 6, 2025, the right-hander is finally back after Tommy John surgery last year. One of the three players to come to the Astros in the Kyle Tucker trade to the Cubs in December 2024, Wesneski comes back at an opportune time for a starting rotation that is frankly short on reliable options. Whether he can help remedy some of those issues is a legitimate question, but at least he adds more depth. On this year’s team, for this staff, that is never a bad thing.
Also, as a quick note: All three players acquired for Tucker (Isaac Paredes, Cam Smith, and Wesneski) all played on Wednesday night against the Angels. I seriously wondered if that would happen with all of the offseason trade chatter surrounding Paredes, but here we are.
Wesneski, for his part, held up relatively well. That first inning was a bit rough, with some jitters involved, allowing the Angels to strike early with three runs. But once things settled down, Wesneski showed why the Astros liked him before his eventual elbow injury last year, throwing 5.2 innings, allowing three runs and striking out four.
For the first time, I don’t know how long, but the bottom half of the lineup had a better game than the top half. You still don’t want Yainer Díaz in too many 0-2 counts, yet he had four hits, including a solo home run in the second, driving in three runs.
Cam Smith struck out three times, but when he did make contact, it counted, driving in two with an RBI double in the sixth. Jeremy Peña extended his hit streak to 11 games, with his own solo home run in the third. Jose Altuve still loves to take chances, and I love him for it.
All said and done, scoring seven runs when Yordan Alvarez is hitless is quite a feat for this lineup. For only the 13th time this season, the Astros have won a game when Alvarez is hitless (13-20).
With the Rangers losing to the Rays, the Astros enter Thursday’s off day trailing for the AL West lead by just one game. Texas comes to Houston for an important three-game set that’ll set the stage for the final two months of the season with the trade deadline this upcoming Monday. A series win would give the Astros first place in August, an unexpected development considering where this team was situated back in early May. What a time to be alive.
Feature photo from Astros on X
Five hundred baby!
(Insert cabbage patch dance)
We are celebrating .500. What does it say about this organization?
It says we’re in the American League and we’ve lowered our standards like classic SNL Jon lovitz!
Crane must be proud of his managerial skills. From WS team to .500 team (maybe).
That at this point in the season we are probably better than 12 other MLB teams and a little ahead of where the ’21 Braves were on this date.
Rangers still have a game to play. If they lose to the Rays this afternoon, Astros will be close in on 1/2 game behind. I would say there is a decent chance that happens. Cole Winn is the opener for the Rangers (6.11 ERA). The Rays’ ace McClanahan starts for Tampa. The Rangers are using an opener/bullpen game so that they can move Eovaldi to start vs. Astros.
Rangers lost today, and the Astros are 0.5 games out of first.
Mariners lost too. Life is good.