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Thankfully for the Astros, the road series in Oakland has mercifully come to an end.
Baseball is a funny sport. For example, the Astros were riding high on a seven-game win streak heading into the Bay Area.
Well, the other side of the Bay Area.
Four games later and the Astros weren’t riding high anymore. You can primarily thank the bullpen for this feeling.
The Astros’ bullpen was quite dreadful this past weekend. 29 runs in four games.
Yes, you read that right.
29 runs.
You cannot sugarcoat this display of inept pitching.
Mike Fiers: IP, 2 R
Luke Gregerson: 1.2 IP, 5 R
Ken Giles: 0 IP, 2 R
Tyler Clippard: 0.1 IP, 3 R
Reymin Guduan: 0.2 IP, 5 R
Joe Musgrove: 0.1 IP, R
Chris Devenski: IP, 2 R
Francisco Liriano: 0.2 IP, R
Michael Feliz: 0.1 IP, 5 R
Francis Martes: 0.2 IP, 2 R
Tony Sipp: 0.1 IP, R
Like I stated just a moment ago, baseball is funny. It’s a game of streaks. Good and bad. The Astros’ bullpen just had a terrible one.
As a team, the Astros’ relief corps now have a 4.48 ERA on the season, which is the tenth-worst in baseball. You can partially thank the series in Oakland for such a high bullpen ERA.
On the other hand, the Astros’ bullpen has a 3.90 FIP. This is the sixth-best in baseball today. Simply put, the Astros bullpen has been better than what they’ve shown. Whether this will hold true as the season closes out remains to be seen.
Going forward, the Astros will have a three-game series in Anaheim against the Angels starting Tuesday. Today, Monday, is an off-day. A much-needed one if you ask me.
On the bright side, the Astros will have Justin Verlander on the mound to start tomorrow. He will start opposite of Garrett Richards. Let’s hope the bullpen can bounce back to their old selves in this series to finish the road trip on a positive note.
Next: Fresno Season Recap: Broken records, missed opportunities
If everything goes well this week, Houston could very well clinch their first AL West title. But there is still the concern of the top seed in the AL in terms of playoff seeding. Let’s just say the Cleveland Indians are not making it easy on the team.
**Statistics courtesy of Fangraphs**