For the first time this season, the Astros are clicking.
Are they perfect? No. Is everybody healthy? Hardly. Are they finally starting to look like a functional baseball team again despite everything that has gone wrong over the first two months of the season? It certainly feels that way.
The Astros have won 8 of their last 10 games. They won at Wrigley Field for the first time since 2013, culminating in a sweep of the Cubs. On Monday night, they threw the fifth combined no-hitter in franchise history in a 9-0 demolition of the Rangers at Globe Life Field. They remain under .500 at 24-31, but the baseball they are playing now looks dramatically different from what they were playing a month ago.
The biggest reason is the pitching.
In April, Astros pitchers posted a 6.08 ERA, one of the worst marks in baseball. Games unraveled early. The bullpen was being asked to cover five or six innings seemingly every night. The rotation looked unstable from top to bottom after injuries to Hunter Brown and others ripped through the staff almost immediately.
Now, suddenly, the Astros are getting innings.
Spencer Arrighetti has emerged as the best pitcher in the rotation, carrying a 1.32 ERA through seven starts after beginning the season in Triple-A Sugar Land. Kai-Wei Teng has stabilized the middle of the rotation since shifting into a starting role. Peter Lambert has quietly kept games under control often enough to give Houston a chance almost every time out. And on Monday night, even Tatsuya Imai—owner of an 8.31 ERA entering the game—helped throw a no-hitter against the Rangers.
For the first time all season, Astros games are starting to look like competitors again.
The offense still has flaws, but it no longer has to carry the entire organization every night. Christian Walker has been one of Houston’s most reliable power bats all season, and his recent surge—four home runs in the last four games—has helped fuel the Astros’ turnaround. Jeremy Peña continues to impact games in nearly every possible way. Yordan Alvarez remains the center of everything when healthy, and the Astros appear to have avoided a worst-case scenario after his recent back spasm scare.
Even the role players have started contributing meaningful at-bats. Braden Shewmake has been an unexpected spark. Christian Vázquez has provided timely offense while helping stabilize a battered pitching staff behind the plate. Nick Allen has given the Astros quality at-bats in spots where they badly needed them. Jake Meyers continues to deliver quality defense and timely hitting.
The bullpen, no longer entering every game in the fourth inning, has begun settling into actual roles again. And on Monday night, rookie Alimber Santa delivered two hitless innings in his MLB debut to help complete Houston’s no-hitter against the Rangers.
None of this erases the problems that put Houston in this position to begin with.
The Astros are still below .500. Jose Altuve remains sidelined with an oblique strain. Hunter Brown and Josh Hader are still working back from injuries. The offense still disappears for stretches. No team sitting at 24-31 gets to pretend everything is fixed.
But the American League West has stayed remarkably forgiving. The Athletics have not run away with the division. The Rangers have stumbled. The Mariners remain inconsistent. The Astros have spent most of the season looking like a team trying to hold itself together long enough to survive.
Now, they finally look like a team beginning to come together instead.
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