HOUSTON -- When the 2005 Astros got off to a disastrous 15-30 start despite having one of the most loaded rosters in the Major Leagues, manager Phil Garner wouldn’t entertain any thought of the team getting back into contention until they reached the .500 mark.
That team hit .500 on July 9 and never looked back, rallying to clinch a Wild Card spot in the National League on the final day of the regular season and marching all the way to the World Series, where the Astros were swept by the White Sox.
Astros manager Joe Espada has had a similar message for this year’s club, which was 20-31 on May 20 and struggling to stack wins. But reaching .500 is now in the Astros’ sights after they took two of three games from the best team in the American League, the Rays, with a 2-0 win Sunday afternoon at Daikin Park.
The Astros (45-47) are 25-16 in their past 41 games, which is due in part to key players returning from the injured list, led by ace Hunter Brown and closer Josh Hader, as well as slugger Yordan Alvarez’s continued push for the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Houston finished Sunday 1 1/2 games out of the AL West lead and one game back of the third AL Wild Card spot.
“I think if you look at the season as a whole and you can think, ‘Wow there’s so many games, it’s a lot to make up,’” first baseman Christian Walker said. “It’s a little bit more tangible, but the .500 line is important. More importantly, we’re playing for the right reasons and just playing good baseball and that means a lot.”
The Astros can reach .500 if they go 4-2 in their final six games before the All-Star break, which is a six-game road trip to Washington and Texas. Houston has won six of its last seven series.
“Right before the All-Star break, I’m going to challenge our team and that should be our goal, let’s get to .500 baseball,” Espada said. “There’s a ton of teams right here in the mix. I just want us to stay in the mix and make our move. We know how to do that. We need to continue to play clean ball, win series. We’re playing our best. We’ve just got to not get content, not get complacent and just continue good baseball.”
The Astros won five consecutive series over the Royals, Tigers, Guardians, Blue Jays and Tigers in early June before losing two of three to the Twins last week. But the Rays came into Houston red-hot, winning eight in a row and had a four-game lead over the Yankees for the best record in the AL.
After losing Friday’s series opener, the Astros trailed, 7-2, in the fourth inning Saturday against AL June Pitcher of the Month Drew Rasmussen before rallying to win, 10-8, on a walk-off homer by Alvarez. On Sunday, starter Peter Lambert (six innings) and lefty relievers Steven Okert (1 1/3), Bryan King (one inning) and Josh Hader (one inning) combined on a four-hit shutout.
The Rays kept Alvarez (0-for-4) in the park, but Walker hit a solo home run to right field in the fourth inning for his 20th of the season, and Isaac Paredes led off the sixth with a homer to left for a 2-0 lead.
“We played really clean baseball and you have to against that team,” Espada said of the Rays. “They do a lot of small things and they do it very well and [playing clean] starts with pitching. We pitched well today and our bullpen did a tremendous job. Walker and Paredes hit two big homers. … Our goal continues to be [to] win series, and we were able to bounce back and do that.”
Hader, who missed the first two months of the season with an injury, has been stellar since his return, posting 0.60 ERA and 0.60 WHIP with 24 strikeouts in 15 innings, including a perfect 9-for-9 in save chances.
“We played these guys good, played them tough, pitched really well and had key hits to bring guys around,” Hader said. “[Saturday’s] game was a litmus test. Back-and-forth game and we scored the runs and came back from a big deficit, and that was a good sign for us.”