Astros: Good pitching is offset by slow starting offense

Yes, the Astros have only played three games, but early into the season, the lack of offense has been stifling the superb performance by the pitching staff.

As expected, the Astros‘ pitching has been stellar up to this point. But surprisingly, the offense has started out slowly so far this season. I know it’s very early in this long season, but it’s a shame to see these pitchers have their great outings thwarted by a lack of run support.

The three starters, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Collin McHugh have come out all guns blazing. The starters have a 2.00 ERA and the entire pitching staff has an accumulative 1.80 ERA, which currently stands at fifth in the league. The relief pitchers have only allowed one earned run in seven innings.

The Astros pitchers have a total of 38 strikeouts in their three games to date coming in at second in the Majors. Seattle is the only team above them and they have played two more games. That comes out to a very impressive 13.68 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.

The other side of the ball isn’t looking quite as rosy. The Astros are 19th in the big leagues in runs scored with eight total runs in their three games played. That comes out to 2.66 runs per nine innings, compared to the 4.92 runs scored per game in 2018.

Aledmys Diaz and Tony Kemp have yet to get a hit and Alex Bregman got his first hit yesterday, knocking one out of the park on his birthday. The team is currently hitting .242 which ranks 15th among the 30 teams. Last season the Astros ended the year with a .255 BA ranking them at seventh.

As I stated before, three games is a very small sample to go by and hopefully, that trend will turn around. Carlos Correa is back in the line today for the first time this season after suffering stiffness in his neck. Who knows, maybe that will be the spark the Astros need to get this offense going.