Astros: Yuli Gurriel erupts for 8 RBIs sweeping the Rockies

The Houston Astros complete the two-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies as Yuli Gurriel ties the franchise record of eight RBIs in a game.

The offensive onslaught continues, defeating the Rockies by a score of 14-2. The Astros have now scored 54 runs in this six-game winning streak that began on Aug. 1st. Yuli Gurriel has done more than his part, knocking in 12 of those runs and tying a record of 8 RBIs in one game set by J.R. Towles back in 2007.

Yordan Alvarez has been another hot player in August collecting 11 hits and seven RBIs. He is hitting .478 for the month, raising his season average from .329 at the beginning of the month to a current BA of .348. Apparently, two straight Rookie of the Month Awards isn’t enough, as Alvarez is already campaigning for his third.

As a team, the Astros are leading the Majors with a .325 BA, .401 OPB, and 54 runs scored for the month of August. They’re second behind the New York Yankees in SLG and OPS with .646 and 1.047 respectively.

Not only has the offense been on fire in August, but the pitching staff has been stingy giving up runs. The Astros have only surrendered 13 runs over that six-game stretch. Gerrit Cole has been an instrumental part of that feat, allowing just three runs on seven hits in his 13 innings of work, getting the win in both of his starts.

Only one pitcher out of the twelve on the roster has an ERA above 3.00 in August and coincidentally it’s newcomer Zack Greinke. The entire pitching staff has a 2.00 ERA in August. The bullpen has surrendered just two earned runs over the last six games for an August ERA of 1.06.

The Astros are 75-40 with 47 games remaining in the season. To match or beat last season’s record 103 victories, Houston will have to win 28 games or more. Playing at their current pace, I don’t see that being a problem. As a matter of fact, I’ll predict right now 108 regular season wins for 2019.