Offense stagnates during five-game skid
Top players struggle in clutch situations; number of players left on base high
The bullpen was an obvious area of concern for the Astros entering the 2021 season, but a surprising culprit snuck up and sandbagged the club during its fivegame losing streak: hitting.
The Astros offense buoyed the team to a torrid 6-1 start, posting an .891 OPS while averaging 7.3 runs per game and 6.86 left on base per game. During the fivegame skid, however, even the best hitters have failed to capitalize on at the plate with runners on base.
In the last five games, the Astros scored just 2.6 runs per game, were 6-for-43 with runners in scoring position, and stranded an average of eight baserunners.
With upcoming series against the Mariners and Angels, the top two teams in the AL West, it’s a bad time for the Astros’ bats to go cold.
“I mean, it’s baseball. It’s going to happen throughout 162 games,” outfielder Myles Straw said. “And, you know, hopefully, it ends sooner than later. So just get back out here tomorrow and keep grinding and competing.”
The trend has undermined the Astros’ comeback bids; they are 0-3 when trailing after six innings. Wednesday’s series finale loss to the Tigers was just the latest example. The Astros loaded the bases in each of the final two innings but scored just one run out of those opportunities. Kyle Tucker, the team’s season leader with 11 RBIs, went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. The team left 10 runners on base in total, one shy of a season high.
On the season, the Astros still rank top four in MLB in batting average (.268) and OPS (.801). But they average 17.17 left on base per game (28th in MLB), 7.33 team LOB per game (22nd) and 4.00 runners left in scoring position per game (28th).
Tucker and Carlos Correa are among the Astros’ worst offenders in left-on-base rate and runners left in scoring position per at bat. Even Michael Brantley, who has developed a reputation as a clutch hitter since joining the Astros, failed to deliver an RBI in the last two games.
If the Astros are going to bust out of this slump in this weekend’s road series against Seattle, which begins Friday, getting the offense going again would be a good place to start.
“Right now, we’re in a bad streak,” manager Dusty Baker said Wednesday. “And maybe this day off (Thursday) will help us to go back on the road and we’ll get it together.”