Astros overcome terrible start to clinch 4th straight AL West title

HOUSTON (AP) — Trailing the Seattle Mariners by 10 games in mid-June, the Houston Astros were undoubtedly down.

But first-year manager Joe Espada worked every day to remind his team it was far from out.

“`We got this,'” he recalled telling the players. “`We are a good team. We've just got to go on a hot streak and we’ll turn this around.'”

Then a champagne-soaked Espada paused for a beat before continuing.

“And we did,” he said.

The Astros clinched their fourth straight AL West title with a 4-3 win over the Mariners on Tuesday night, overcoming a terrible start to reach the playoffs for an eighth consecutive year.

“We started off super slow and we had to grind for it all year long,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “And the guys just put their heads down, never stopped believing and kept faith and kept going.”

The Astros are the first team to win the AL West in four straight seasons since Oakland won five times in a row from 1971-75. It’s the first time they’ve won four consecutive division titles, after winning three in a row on two previous occasions (1997-99 and 2017-19).

And it's the seventh AL West crown in eight seasons for the Astros. The only time they were beaten out during that stretch was by Oakland during a 2020 season shortened to 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Houston limped out to a 7-19 record and trailed Seattle by a season-high 10 games on June 18. But the Astros won their next seven to start a 13-2 stretch as they improved to 46-42 by July 5.

They moved past the Mariners into first place in mid-August and cruised home to their latest division crown by going 79-53 after that awful 26-game stretch.

The Astros overcame numerous injuries to return to the postseason in their first year under Espada, who was hired as a first-time manager after Dusty Baker’s retirement.

“I never lost hope,” Espada said. “But when it comes to winning, you know how to win and you’ve got the right ingredients to win, you don’t mess that up. You've got to protect it and that’s what we’ve done.”

Houston’s rotation was decimated by injuries early, with José Urquidy and Cristian Javier both undergoing Tommy John surgery in June, and Framber Valdez missing most of April with elbow inflammation.

The injuries forced the Astros to insert Ronel Blanco and rookie Spencer Arrighetti into the rotation. Blanco threw a no-hitter in his season debut and is second on the team with 12 wins and a 2.88 ERA. Arrighetti has made 28 starts and was selected AL rookie of the month for August after going 3-2 with a 1.95 ERA.

Hunter Brown, in his second MLB season, went 11-9 with a 3.49 ERA to help steady the rotation during a year when three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander made just 16 starts due to injuries.

“The young starters that stepped up, Hunter, Spencer, Ronel — those three guys right there — we for sure wouldn’t be here without them,” Verlander said. “You have a role to fill and lo and behold, somebody steps up and does a great job and that’s why we’re here.”

But the team's problems weren’t limited to pitching. Houston was left scrambling to find an answer at first base after releasing veteran José Abreu with $30.8 million remaining on his contract after he hit .124 through June 13. The lineup went almost three months without Kyle Tucker after the All-Star right fielder fractured his right shin on a foul ball June 3.

Yet the Astros found a way to overcome those obstacles and get back to the playoffs again, as they aim for a third World Series championship after winning in 2017 and 2022.

“This is awesome,” Tucker said. “This is what you play for, get to the postseason and have a chance at a World Series. Every year is special. You never know when you’re going to have this opportunity again or if at all. So you just try and cherish the moment and keep working hard.”

Houston, which has reached seven consecutive AL Championship Series, captured two other pennants during that stretch before losing World Series matchups with Washington in 2019 and Atlanta in 2021.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Kristie Rieken, The Associated Press