The Astros were at their lowest point this season when they faced the Colorado Rockies for the first time.
Prior to that late April series in Mexico City, the Astros were 12 games under.500, a season low.
Fast forward nearly two months, and the Astros have climbed back to.500 for the first time since opening day, with games against the Rockies bookending the journey.
Houston completed a two-game sweep of Colorado with a 7-1 victory Wednesday at Minute Maid Park, fueled by Spencer Arrighetti’s strongest start of the season and two RBIs each from Jose Altuve and Yainer Diaz. This extended the Astros’ season-best winning run to seven games.
“I suppose in Mexico City against the same Rockies squad, we kind of made that day ‘Let’s go. “Let’s get back into our season (and) forget what happened,” Astros manager Joe Espada stated. “We aimed to play.500 baseball in May. Our June objective was to be a.500 club.
“We achieved those objectives…. We need to keep going. The men worked extremely hard to reach to this position. It wasn’t easy in the first few weeks of the season, but I believe we have turned things around. There’s a lot of baseball left, but we’re performing well right now.”
The Astros (40-40) open a 10-game road trip in New York against the Mets on Friday. They are still 4½ games behind first-place Seattle in the American League West, but have reduced their deficit by 5½ games since June 18.
“The last five games, I think we’ve played really, really good baseball,” said third baseman Alex Bregman. “Over the last month and a half, we’ve improved significantly. I’m proud of the folks here. Obviously, there have been many challenges along the way, but everyone has fought and persevered.”
Arrighetti, a rookie right-hander making his 14th big league start, crushed the struggling Rockies (27-53), striking out 10 in seven shutout innings, the most by an Astros pitcher this season.
The Cinco Ranch best School alumni set the tone early, with his four-season fastball reaching 97.3 mph in the first inning, surpassing his previous best of 96.6 mph in his April 10 debut against Kansas City.
“It was a good week,” Arrighetti remarked of his preparation for his debut. “Just trusting that the job I’ve been doing is sufficient. Just trusting that I can go out there and be the guy I was today. Just being incredibly aggressive, throwing everything in the zone, and having guys respect anything I provide. I felt like I did exactly that tonight, attacking the zone as much as possible.”
Arrighetti struck out five in his first pass through the Rockies’ order and did not allow a hit until Ezequiel Tovar’s one-out single in the fourth inning.
Arrighetti was coming off a poor showing in his previous start on June 20 against Chicago, where he lasted only 4⅓ innings against the White Sox, giving three runs on five hits, walking four, and striking out two.
“He wanted this outing really bad after his outing in Chicago,” he stated. “He got ready, he worked really hard to perform the way he did today.”
Colorado did not put a runner in scoring position until Nolan Jones doubled with two outs in the fifth inning, when Arrighetti struck out Jake Cave to end the threat.
take it on the run.
The Astros scored in the fourth inning with some little ball.
Jose Altuve singled and stole second base. After Yordan Alvarez was hit by a pitch, Altuve immediately swiped third for his second multi-steal game of the season.
Yainer Diaz followed with a single through the right side, scoring Altuve.
Salazar joins in.
Catcher César Salazar, in his second start since being called up earlier this month, started a two-out rally in the fifth inning.
Salazar’s ground ball up the first base line went off Michael Toglia’s glove and into foul territory, scoring a double. Altuve followed with an RBI single to left field, and Salazar’s slide into the plate beat Nolan Jones’s throw.
Salazar added a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, sparking a four-run outburst that sealed the victory.
Salazar also helped the Astros on June 19 at Chicago, when he came off the bench to replace an injured Victor Caratini and drove in two runs in a 4-1 win over the White Sox.
“First of all, I’m just grateful for the opportunities,” he remarked. “I prepare myself for those types of situations and have a plan, just trust (it) and those pitches I’ve been looking for, and just have fun with it.”
Altuve connects with Watson
Altuve’s two RBIs equaled the late Bob Watson for seventh place in Astros history with 782.
Altuve is trailing Jeff Bagwell (1,529), Craig Biggio (1,175), Lance Berkman (1,090), and Jose Cruz (942).