May 12: 0-4 loss vs. Arlington
May 13: 8-0 win vs. Arlington
May 14: 5-4 win vs. Arlington
May 16: 2-7 loss vs. Chicago White Sox
May 17: 6-5 win vs. Chicago White Sox
May 18: 8-2 win vs. Chicago White Sox
So the Astros have won four of their last five and, starting with Keuchel's CGSHO vs. Detroit, have won six of their last ten games. The week also included two one-run wins to improve their one-run record to 5-9. FanGraphs is now projecting a 67-95 record by the end of the season, three games behind the Cubs, five behind the Twins.
The Astros outscored their opponents 29-22 on the week to close the gap on their run differential to -53, which is actually better than the Diamondbacks, who have a -60 run differential.
Despite dropping the series opener against the Rangers, the Astros responded with an 8-0 thrashing the next game. That 8-run margin was a season-high for the Astros, and the largest margin of victory since a 13-2 win at Seattle on September 10, 2013. It was the largest win over the Rangers since a 7-0 win on June 30, 2011, and the Astros beat the Rangers by 8+ runs for the first time since a 12-3 win in Arlington on June 20, 2003.
The Astros hit three homers in Sunday's win over Chicago, the fifth time that's happened this season. When the Astros hit 2+ home runs, they're 12-3 - and two of those losses were thanks to a shaky bullpen against Seattle on May 3 and 4. Matt Dominguez hit 835 feet of homers on Sunday (427' and 408') for his first 2+ HR game since May 2013.
The Astros have drawn 5+ walks in ten games this season - three of those were this week, and they have four 5+ BB games since May 11. This - and the power surge - has contributed to the Astros raising their OPS by 30 points to .695 in the last week. The last time the Astros' team OPS was .695? After Game 4, an 11-1 loss to Anaheim.
In the May 14 win vs. Arlington, Scott Feldman posted a 33 Game Score. That's the lowest Game Score in an Astros win since Dallas Keuchel's 32 in a 9-7 win against Anaheim on September 13, 2013. The Astros have had 57 games in which the starting pitcher posted a 39 Game Score or lower since the beginning of 2013, and they're 7-50 in those starts, with two of those wins coming this week - Feldman and Cosart on May 17 (39).
Team Leaders, WAR:
Position Player: Jose Altuve, 0.8 WAR (FanGraphs); Matt Dominguez, 1.0 WAR (B-Ref)
Pitcher: Dallas Keuchel, 1.2 WAR (FanGraphs), Keuchel, 2.0 WAR (B-Ref)
The Week in Hitting A Ball: .303/.383/.495, 21XBH, 61K:26BB, 2 GIDPs.
(Min. 10 PAs)
| Fowler | .450/.621/.750 | 5K:9BB |
| Hoes | .400/.455/.900 | 2K:1BB |
| Springer | .318/.464/.545 | 9K:6BB |
| Carter | .348/.375/.609 | 6K:1BB |
| Dominguez | .292/.346/.542 | 6K:2BB |
| Guzman | .333/.467/.417 | 4K:3BB |
| Altuve | .367/.367/.500 | 2K:0BB |
| Castro | .235/.316/.471 | 6K:2BB |
| Krauss | .222/.300/.222 | 5K:1BB |
| Villar | .235/.278/.235 | 8K:1BB |
| Presley | .200/.200/.200 | 2K:0BB |
Hitter of the Week: Dexter Fowler
*Via JJO, we find that Dexter Fowler has at least one walk in eight consecutive games - the longest streak of any Astros hitter since Morgan Ensberg walked in nine straight games in August 2006.
*Carlos Corporan has seven hits on the season. Four of them have been homers.
*Jason Castro has been on base at least once in 27 of his 35 games.
*Jose Altuve's 15 SB lead the American League, and he has an 83.3% success rate. During his ten-game hit streak, he's hitting .391/.417/.522.
*Matt Dominguez has had multi-hit games in six of his last nine games.
*In May, Dexter Fowler is hitting .322/.467/.441 with 11K:15BB. He has a 16-game on-base streak, and has reached base in 26 straight games.
*When batting in the 2-hole, George Springer is hitting .259/.412/.444 with 11K:7BB.
*Chris Carter has a five-game streak of striking out 0-1 times, his longest of the season.
The Week in Throwing A Ball: 54IP, 53H/19ER, 57K:21BB, 3.17 ERA/1.37 WHIP.
Starters
| Peacock | 12.2IP | 13H/6ER, 16K:6BB |
| Keuchel | 9IP | 7H/0ER, 7K:0BB |
| McHugh | 5.1IP | 3H/4ER, 7K:4BB |
| Feldman | 5IP | 10H/4ER, 3K:1BB |
| Cosart | 5IP | 7H/3ER, 2K:4BB |
Starter line: 37IP, 40H/17ER, 35K:15BB; 4.14 ERA/1.49 WHIP.
Bullpen
| Clemens | 4IP | 5H/0ER, 4K:2BB |
| Downs | 2.2IP | 1H/0ER, 3K:0BB |
| Sipp | 2.2IP | 0H/0ER, 4K:0BB |
| Fields | 2.1IP | 1H/0ER, 5K:0BB |
| Zeid | 2IP | 3H/0ER, 2K:2BB |
| Qualls | 1.2IP | 0H/0ER, 2K:0BB |
| Williams | 1IP | 1H/0ER, 2K:0BB |
| Farnsworth | 0.2IP | 2H/2ER, 0K:2BB |
Bullpen line: 17IP, 10H/2ER, 22K:4BB; 1.06 ERA/0.82 WHIP
Pitcher of the Week: Dallas Keuchel
*For the week, Astros pitchers inherited ten runners and only one scored.
*Dallas Keuchel has thrown a Quality Start in five of his eight starts, and has a Game Score of at least 48 in seven straight starts. His last two starts: 16.2IP, 13H/2ER, 14K:0BB.
*In two starts since coming off the DL, Scott Feldman has allowed more ER (6) than he did in his first four starts of the season (5). He has faced 48 batters in his last two starts, and only walked one (10 walks to 153 batters this season).
*Tony Sipp has faced 20 batters as an Astro and retired all of them, 11 by strikeout.
*Chad Qualls has run his scoreless streak to 10 games (8.2IP), and has thrown 71% of his pitches for strikes.
*Since rejoining the team, Josh Fields has struck out five of the eight batters he has faced.
