Astros Combine Great Pitching With Great Hitting to Take Division Crown

The Houston Astros teamed good pitching with great hitting over the last two games to win both games handily and clinch a division title. It was the team’s eighth division title in the last 10 seasons and their 10th postseason appearance in 12 seasons.

The lopsided wins were the first time since September of 2023 that Houston has won back-to-back games by nine runs or more in each win.

Saturday’s Win

The Houston Astros celebrate after winning the AL West. Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Astros won 13-2 on Saturday thanks to a strong start from Hayden Wesneski. The right-handed pitcher went seven innings and allowed just two runs, one earned. It looked like the Astros might repeat their Friday failure when the team failed to turn two double plays in bottom of the fourth. This led to one run but Wesneski hunkered down to prevent more damage.

Ronel Blanco came in relief to work 2.0 hitless frames. Blanco was sent down after the game but his contributions to the Astros over the last three seasons will not be shortly forgotten including a no-hitter in 2024.

The offense was firing on all cylinders on both days. On the first night, the Astros started with a one-run first inning thanks to homer from Isaac Paredes but would add two more with a homer from Jeremy Pena in the third. Three more runs in the fifth and seventh let the Astros relax. After the A’s got one back to make it 9-2 the Astros would add four more runs in the final two frames. In total, the Astros would hit five home runs in the win. Houston saved its bullpen for the competitive game 162 with the team tied with the Texas Rangers heading into the last day.

Sunday’s Shutdown

Needing only a win, the Astros pitchers were at their best on Sunday with a shutout performance.

The combination of Peter Lambert (2 IP), Ethan Pecko (3), Miguel Ullola (1), Bryan King (1), Logan VanWey (1) and Tatsuya Imai (1) kept the Athletics off the board allowing the Astros offense to focus on just getting a few runs.

But the offense got more than a few runs, they piled up nine runs with a 12-hit performance. Walker continued his hot bat with a homer and Lucas Spence had a triple.

The Astros finished the season as MLB’s leader in home runs with 226, three more than the second-place New York Yankees. Alvarez won the AL and MLB batting crown with a .316 average. He became the third different Astro to win a league batting crown (Yuli Gurriel and Jose Altuve).

Over the two games, Houston hit 11-for-25 (.444) with runners in scoring position and posted a 0.50 ERA on the mound. It was the perfect ending to a division championship regular season that sets up the Astros as a hot team heading into the White Sox series (starting on Tuesday at 4 p.m. CT).

Add us as a preferred source on Google