In 14 September games, including Wednesday’s loss to the Royals, the Astros have scored 45 runs, or roughly 3.2 runs per game. No other team in baseball has scored fewer runs this month. Only the Royals have fewer hits this month. That overall lack of hitting and run scoring is far from ideal for a team with postseason aspirations.
To be fair, the top half of the Astros lineup wasn’t entirely quiet against Kansas City. Jeremy Peña, for example, had three hits. If he could emerge from his slump sooner rather than later, well, you get the point. Yainer Diaz had two hits, including a solo home run. Isaac Paredes drove in another run. Yordan Alvarez and Jose Altuve each contributed a hit. Seven of the team’s eight hits occurred with those hitters.
But it wasn’t enough to overcome the bottom half of the lineup finishing the game 1-for-14 with five strikeouts. Both Christian Walker and Cam Smith are back into noticeable slumps. Daulton Varsho has a .540 OPS as an Astro. The rotating cast of outfielders continues, with no real production to speak of. Simply put, this isn’t a postseason-caliber lineup or team for that matter.
Frankly, I am not terribly upset with most of the pitching staff at the moment. Please don’t mistake that statement as meaning that I am happy or pleased with the staff, as I think I’ve largely resigned myself to reality. But there is only so much those arms can do if the lineup isn’t scoring runs. After all, Cristian Javier got through 5.1 innings of two-run ball without imploding. The bullpen did have some problems, with the Royals scoring three runs in the eighth off of Enyel De Los Santos. We did get to see Tatsuya Imai for the sixth time since the beginning of August.
The Rangers won on Wednesday, which ties the two teams atop the AL West standings. Of course, the Astros won the season series against their in-state rival, so the tiebreaker would default to them if the season concluded today.
Feature photo from Astros on X
