CTH’s Houston Astros Players of the Week (April 27 – May 3)

How’s your week been? For the Houston Astros it’s been another regular, run-of-the-mill type week. It’s just a 10-game win streak. Five series won in a row. A seven game lead for first in the American League West. And the best start in franchise history through 25 games. No biggie.

Here are the players of the week for April 27 through May 3. These guys that may have pitched in a little here and there to help get a victory.

Pitcher of the Week: Dallas Keuchel

Are you tired of seeing Keuchel’s name week after week on here? This is his third pitcher of the week award of the season.

On April 29, the bearded wonder lead the Houston Astros to a 7-2 victory against the San Diego Padres, going 8.0 innings, while giving up one earned run on three hits, and he had four strikeouts. The most ridiculous part about giving up one run? It RAISED Keuchel’s ERA to 0.73 on the season.

He also added a hit, for what it’s worth.

Ok. So the first question was a trick. How can you get tired of such dominance? You can’t, unless you’re an opponent.

Honorable mention: Will Harris

Harris has been outstanding out of the pen this year. He continues to shut down his opponents should be dubbed “Mr. Reliable.” You could make an argument for Harris for this week’s award. Here’s his line:

4.0 IP, 7 strikeouts, 0.00 ERA. 0.00 batting average against.

Position Players/Batters of the Week: Jose Altuve and Evan Gattis

This was a hard one to choose, so we went with a tie.

Call to the Pen

First up, the tiny Venezualan with the big bat. Jose Altuve had another great week of baseball. He was working on a nine-game multi-hit streak, of which he had five during this past week, which helped him rack up 14 hits in seven games. Gigante also had an exciting walk-off hit on April 30 to score Marwin Gonzalez in the 10th inning against the Mariners, and a three-run home run on May 2 against Seattle.  Here’s Altuve’s line:

.467/.500/.733, 14 hits, 5 doubles, 1 home run, 8 RBI, 3 BB/2 IBB, and 2 steals.

As for El Oso Blanco, he caught fire this week and started mauling baseballs. This is the Evan Gattis we’ve been waiting on. Here’s his line from this week:

.318/.318/1.000, 7 hits, 5 home runs, 12 RBI

The Lumberjack hit a home run on three consecutive days over the weekend. The biggest impact The White Bear had was in yesterday’s final match against Seattle, when Gattis got the Astros on the board early with a three run homer in the first inning, and then later scored the go-ahead run on a solo shot in the eighth inning.  One other key to Gattis’ superb week- only three strikeouts.

It’s a fantastic feeling when the guys make it so hard to choose just one player. But with good reason, we could not.

Weekly Goat: None

This is the first week without a goat. The Houston Astros are blazing hot and on a ten game win streak. We could probably pick out a player to name here, but we won’t.

Redemption Player: Luke Gregerson

Luke Gregerson has been pretty solid in the closer role this year, only giving up two earned runs in April. However, he gave everyone a scare on Friday, May 1st against the Mariners. With the Astros leading Seattle 4-1, the game looked like a lock for Houston. But then Gregerson gave up a solo home run to Nelson Cruz, a deep fly to left to Kyle Seager for an out, and then another home run to Logan Morrison. The game was now at 4-3 and Astros fans were on edge. LG closed the game out with a groundout and a strikeout to snuff out the crisis.

After that scare, Gregerson got the night off on Saturday, and returned to the mound on Sunday, May 3, with Houston leading 7-6 over the M’s. He made quick work of the Mariners order by getting a strikeout on Mike Zunino, walking Rickie Weeks, and then inducing a double play on Brad Miller end the game. Gregerson bounced back with a strong performance which is why he got this week’s redemption award.

What do you think, Astros fans? Did we make the correct choices? Let us know in the comment section.

In case you missed it, here are the links to the Players of the Week for the first three weeks:

Week 1: April 6 – 12

Week 2: April 13 – 19

Week 3: April 20 – 26

Next: Astros 'Stars of the Month' for April

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