Houston Astros making history on the mound during win streak
By Kevin Henry
Thanks to a 10-game winning streak, the Houston Astros have once again risen to the top of the American League West standings. One of the biggest reasons for Houston’s recent success has been a historic string of dominant pitching performances.
Houston Astros pitchers have been putting together a historically impressive performance during the team’s 10-game winning streak
With a 5-0 road win over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday, the Houston Astros recorded their third shutout in their last four games (ironically, all by a count of 5-0). Since starting their 10-game winning streak on May 2 with a 3-0 home win over the Seattle Mariners, Houston has logged five shutouts, including blankings in back-to-back game twice during that stretch.
Thanks to so many zeroes, Astros pitchers have seen their combined ERA rates come tumbling down.
The first-place Houston #Astros win their 10th consecutive game as their pitching staff records its third shutout in four games.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 12, 2022
The Astros are yielding a 0.90 ERA during this streak, permitting just 57 hits and 2 HRs in 90 innings, without giving up more than 2 ER in any game.
During the 10-game winning streak, Houston has allowed just 11 runs. That’s a number that hasn’t been matched by an MLB staff in nearly 50 years.
The @astros have allowed 11 runs during their 10-game winning streak.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) May 12, 2022
They're the first MLB team to win 10 straight games in a season while allowing fewer than a dozen runs over that span since the Orioles did so from August 29 to September 7, 1974.
Next. Grading Houston's new City Connect uniforms. dark
On Friday, Houston will look to keep its pitching numbers low when it visits the Washington Nationals to open a three-game weekend series. Framber Valdez will open the series on the mound for Houston. The southpaw is coming off an outing where he scattered nine hits over six innings against the Detroit Tigers, allowing two runs and striking out seven on May 7. Since then, Houston has allowed just three combined runs over the next four games.