Breaking down the Astros' First *Real* Winning Road Trip

Unbelievably, it took until July

The 2024 Astros haven’t been as good on the road as they were in 2023. The 2023 Astros were an anomaly as they were able to win the division despite going 39-42 in Minute Maid Park. Houston did this by going 51-30 on the road in 2023.

This year, things are a little more normal on that front as the Astros are 24-19 in Houston and 22-25 away from home.

The Astros haven’t been as good on the road this year, but they did go 6-4 in their last road trip. So today, I will break down their first real winning road trip.

Technically the Astros won a road trip from 6/18-6/20, but I’m not counting that because it was a three-game series against the league-worst Chicago White Sox, and that’s it.

So with a season-long 10-game road trip done, and with the Astros being mostly successful, I will break down every game of all three series that led to the Astros’ first winning road trip. 

6/28: @ Mets 7-2 L 

The road trip did not start super well, as the New York Mets continued their hot streak and defeated the Astros 7-2 on a Friday night.

Jose Altuve led off the game with a home run on the first pitch. And through three and a half innings, the Astros would lead 2-1.

Blanco struggled with giving up the long ball during this start as in the bottom of the 4th, Tyrone Taylor would hit a solo home run to tie the game. Fast forward to the bottom of the sixth, and Pete Alonso would hit a solo home run to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.

Blanco then gave up a double to Francisco Alvarez, and with two outs, Bregman made an unfortunate error to keep the inning going, allowing Mark Vientos to reach. This would cost the Astros big time as the next batter, Jeff McNeil would hit a three-run home run, making it 6-2. Blanco would be chased, allowing six runs in 5.2 innings. However, only three of them were earned.

The Astros would go onto lose 7-2 and have their seven-game winning streak snapped.

The Astros other big fault in this game was the fact that they left 14 runners on base, and went 2/14 with RISP. Mauricio Dubon left ten on by himself. 

6/29: @ Mets 9-6 W

This was not Framber Valdez’s best start. After Jake Meyers gave the Astros a 1-0 lead in the Top of the 2nd, Framber gave up five runs in the bottom half of the inning, partially due to two errors, one made by himself, and one by Jose Altuve.

In the Bottom of the 3rd, Framber gave up a solo home run to Mark Vientos, and a third of the way through the game, the Astros found themselves trailing 6-1.

However, as you can see above, the Astros made their largest comeback of the 2024 season. In the Top of the 4th, the Astros would immediately respond, as Alvarez would single, Meyers would be hit by a pitch, and Jeremy Pena would hit a 2 RBI double, making it 6-3. Jon Singleton then hit an RBI single, beginning a phenomenal road trip for him, and the Astros would suddenly be only trailing 6-4. After three scoreless frames for both sides, the Mets bullpen fell apart in the 8th inning.

Former divisional foe Jake Diekman would enter the game for New York and he’d walk Meyers and Pena, but he’d also retire both Chas McCormick and Dubon. Reed Garrett then replaced Diekman in the mound for the Mets and his control would be worse than Diekman’s. Garrett walked Trey Cabbage to load the bases. Diekman would then throw a wild pitch to Altuve, allowing Meyers to score, making it 6-5.

Altuve would then walk to reload the bases. With the bases loaded, two outs, and a full count, Alex Bregman would hit a 2 RBI single making it 7-6. The Astros lead for the first time all day.

A couple of shutdown innings by Ryan Pressly and Josh Hader, along with a big 2 RBI single by Dubon in the top of the 9th, led the Astros getting their first win of the road trip at a 9-6 score. 

6/30: @ Mets 10-5 W (11)

The bullpen day for the Astros was a big topic during this road trip. The first of two bullpen days went pretty successfully.

Shawn Dubin pitched 3.1 IP of no-hit baseball to start the game for the Astros. In the Top of the 2nd, Jon Singleton hit a solo home run making it 1-0.

In the Top of the 4th, Bregman would hit a double, Alvarez walked, and a Yainer Diaz RBI single and Meyers RBI groundout would make it 3-0.

Bryan King would enter the game out of the bullpen and throw 1.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

In the Top of the 5th, Dubon would hit a bloop single that Francisco Lindor couldn’t handle. A Cabbage groundout moved him to 2nd, and Altuve then hit an RBI single to make it 4-0.

Things would not be over quickly as Seth Martinez would give up two runs in the 6th inning, and Bryan Abreu would give up two runs in the 7th inning and the Nets would have tied it.

In the middle of the 9th inning, the Astros went into their first rain delay of 2024 and the delay lasted a very long 2 hours and 47 minutes.

Josh Hader was warming up, however, they had to go to someone else, that being Tayler Scott. Scott would throw a scoreless ninth inning. Also, Joey Loperfido got a chance to play 1st Base and he did decently for the three innings he did it pretty well.

In the Top of the 10th, Chas McCormick would hit an RBI single for the lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Tayler Scott gave up the game-tying hit to Brandon Nimmo on the first pitch of the bottom of the tenth.

However, Scott was able to strand Nimmo and send the Astros to the 11th inning. He was the MVP of this game, and in my opinion, Scott is a big reason the Astros are over .500 as of now.

In the 11th inning, the Astros scored the most runs that they ever had since the runner on 2nd in extra innings rule was introduced in 2020. Three straight singles by Yainer, Meyers, and Loperfido would put up three runs, making it 8-5.

After both Pena and Dubon were retired, a 2 RBI double to the wall by Trey Cabbage would make it 10-5. It would be Cabbage’s 2nd double on the day. Luis Contreras entered in the bottom of the 11th, threw a scoreless inning and the Astros won the final game, and the series. The Astros also clinched the best record in June by winning this game. 

7/1: @ Blue Jays 3-1 W

This was the first low scoring game of the road trip. Toronto Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodriguez pitched really well against the Astros. Yariel ended up throwing 6.2 IP, giving up 2 Hits, 1 Run, and 2 walks while striking out six. Unfortunately for Yariel, Jeremy Pena connected for a solo home run in the Top of the 5th inning. Despite pitching well, this one home run would lead to a loss for him. In the Top of the 9th, a Bregman single, and Yordan home run gave the Astros a 3-0 lead. Josh Hader would give up another home run, making it 3-1. However, he’d get three outs, and the Astros would win Game 1 of the series. Hunter Brown also continued his good stretch, throwing six shutout innings, and Toronto stranded the bases loaded with one out twice. 

7/2: @ Blue Jays 7-6 L

Spencer Arrighetti really struggled in this start. His command issues returned after his best start against the Rockies. Against Toronto, Spencer went four innings, giving up 6 hits, 7 runs, and four walks while striking out five.

After a passed ball by Cesar Salazar, the Astros trailed 7-0 after four innings. However, they were able to fight back in the fifth inning, scoring five runs. Salazar and Altuve both hit RBI singles, and Yordan Alvarez unloaded a home run for the second consecutive day, this time off of Jose Berrios.

In the eighth inning, Alvarez singled and advanced to third on a couple of errors. A Jake Meyers RBI groundout got the Astros back to trailing by one run. It was 7-6. In the top of the 9th inning, Jeremy Pena led off with a double that was a few feet away from being a home run.

However, the Astros stranded him on two strikeouts from Loperfido and Cabbage, and a fly out by Altuve. The Astros had come short of a comeback, but their resilience was very admirable. 

7/3: @ Blue Jays 9-2 W

This game was close for a majority of the time, just for the terrible Blue Jays bullpen to blow it.

Blanco went 5.2 innings, with 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. This was a much better start than his start against New York. The Astros and Jays were tied at 2-2 after six innings.

And yes, Yordan Alvarez hit another home run. In came Zach Pop for the Blue Jays, someone that the Astros hit very well during this series. Chas McCormick reached on an error by Pop and the back-to-back hits by Singleton and Altuve gave the Astros a 3-2 lead.

Jose Cuas entered the game and had one of the worst outings I have ever seen. After Alvarez was intentionally walked, Yainer hit a 2 RBI single on the first pitch Cuas threw. Cuss then hit Meyers and Pena on back-to-back pitches, scoring another run, and taking Cuas out of the game. He threw three pitches, faced four batters, and retired none. 

Brendon Little then entered the game and got out of the inning. However, the damage was done. The Astros led 6-2, and were able to end up winning 9-2. 

7/4: @ Blue Jays 5-3 W

This game had a wild 1st inning. Both teams scored three runs in the opening frame. After the bases were loaded with no outs, Yainer Diaz had an RBI groundout, and Singleton had another big hit, a 2 RBI single, making it 3-0.

Framber would give up five hits in the inning, and the Blue Jays would end up tying the game at three apiece. Framber got very lucky in this game. He had three ground ball double plays, and a line-drive double play in his six innings to help him out.

Framber gave up nine hits and walked two in six innings. After the 1st inning, he wouldn’t give up another run and he’d end up with a quality start.

Jeremy Pena would single and move to 2nd on a groundout, and Mauricio Dubon would hit an RBI single, making it 4-3. Pena then hit another home run in the Top of the 7th making it 5-3. The Astros would win by the same score.

Pena finished the Toronto series with an extra-base hit in every game of the series. Yordan also finished this game with a stat line of 0/1 with a walk, intentional walk, and two hit-by pitches. He should have drawn another walk, but two terrible strike calls by Ben May forced Yordan to expand the zone and pop up. 

7/5: @ Twins 13-12 W

This game will be a doozy to recap. The Astros really love failed comebacks for whatever reason recently. They led 14-3 over the Orioles on 6/21 and gave up eight unanswered runs to Baltimore, but were able to squeeze out a 14-11 win.

In Toronto, they trailed the Blue Jays 7-0, just to come all the way back and lose 7-6.

This time, in Minnesota, the Twins comeback fell just short. It was another bullpen game for the Astros. Luckily, the Astros scored three runs in the Top 2nd because, despite a good 1st inning, Dubin was not as good as he was in New York as he gave up three runs.

This was the 2nd straight game the Astros jumped out to a 3-0 lead and couldn’t hold it. After it was tied for an inning, the Astros actually trailed as a (so far) rare run was scored off of Bryan King.

Luckily for King, three straight singles for Yainer, Singleton, and Pena would tie the game, and Joey Loperfido would hit a big ground-rule double, to give the Astros a 6-4 lead.

In the 8th inning with a 7-5 lead, Jose Altuve was hit on the hand by a pitch and in a scary scene would have to leave the game. Luckily, he returned Sunday and seems good to keep playing.

Joey Loperfido also made a spectacular catch in right field that went in and out of his glove and was caught with his bare hand. 

The Astros would pile on and lead 13-5 going to the bottom of the 9th. Luis Contreras did give up a few hits, but was one out away from ending the game. However, things fell apart for him after a close play at 1st for the final out didn’t go his way.

Max Kepler, Byron Buxton, and Christian Vazquez had three straight RBI hits, making it 13-8. After Willi Castro walked to load the bases, Contreras was taken out for Josh Hader. Former Astro Carlos Correa then hit a grand slam to make it a one-run game.

However, Hader bounced back and shut down Manuel Margot, striking him out, clinching the win, the winning road trip, and deciding what article I’d write during the off day.

If the Astros end up climbing out of their hole and making the playoffs, this game and the Baltimore game will be seen as close calls that could’ve ended in disaster for the Astros if things were slightly different

7/6: Twins: 9-3 L

This game did not go very well, as Hunter Brown looked like the Hunter Brown of old and got shelled. Despite going six innings, he’d give up seven runs and twelve hits.

Brown did give them the length they needed after a bullpen day the night before. Most of the runs for the Twins were scored early and the Astros were out of it from the beginning.

Jon Singleton hit a big home run to put them within four, and in the top of the 6th inning, they loaded the bases and had the tying run up to bat, just for Dubon to pop out and end the rally and end the Astros chance at winning the game.

Yordan was also hit by a pitch for the second consecutive day and was removed in another scary scene.

Kaleb Ort later made his Astros debut and last but not least, Jose Miranda tied an MLB record with 12 hits in 12 consecutive at-bats.

One of Hunter Brown's lone highlights was retiring him once and stopping him from getting the record. 

7/7: Twins 3-2 L

This was a frustrating loss. Arrighetti had better results this game as he threw five innings and only gave up two runs.

However, he did give up seven hits. The Astros scored their only two runs in the top of the 2nd as Salazar hit a sacrifice fly, and Altuve hit an RBI single.

The Twins scored two runs, one in the 2nd and one in the 4th. The 4th inning run was one the Astros would want back as Altuve made an error that was later changed to a hit.

Later in the inning, a bad throw by Altuve and a bad pick by Salazar allowed Brooks Lee to score, making it 2-2.

Afterwards, the Astros started swinging at everything and it was an ugly offensive performance that was eerily reminiscent of the April Astros. Joey Loperfido hit a pinch-hit double in the Top 8th and was stranded.

The Astros had two base runners in the 9th and couldn’t score. Then, unfortunately, Josh Hader would come in and give up a home run to Christian Vazquez to lose the game in walk-off fashion.

This was the third home run Hader gave up on the road trip, and the long hall seems to be hurting Hader this year. 

Conclusion:

Like the first winning homestand back in May, it had a disappointing ending, however, the Astros first real winning road trip is an important milestone.

With the Marlins and Rangers up next before the All-Star break, hopefully, the Astros can capitalize and continue to inch closer to the AL West-leading Mariners.