The Astros entered their series against the Orioles in last place in their division, carrying an 11-17 record and a 5.97 team ERA that ranked 30th of 30 teams. Houston’s rotation sat 29th in ERA and its bullpen was last, leaving a club that has spent the past decade expecting better now trying to keep its season from slipping away in April.
Yordan Alvarez has been the bright spot. He came in with 11 home runs and a 1.220 OPS in 29 games, while Christian Walker had a.946 OPS with seven home runs entering the series. The offense has been better than the pitching, with Alvarez, Walker, Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa all contributing, but the numbers around the staff explain why the Astros have been chasing games instead of dictating them.
That gap is especially stark on the mound. Two active Astros starting pitchers and three active relievers were carrying ERAs above 6, and two starters, including offseason addition Tatsuya Imai, were on the injured list. Houston also had to lean on new arms it had barely gotten to know. Teng had not started a game this season and was working with a pitch count of 39, while the 27-year-old Baz had one start in which he allowed one run over 5.2 innings. Lambert, 29, was drafted by the Rockies and pitched parts of four seasons with them through 2024 before spending last year in Japan and returning to the United States this year.
Baltimore arrives with a far healthier picture on the surface. The Orioles ranked 18th in team ERA at 4.36, but the series also drops them into a difficult stretch immediately afterward: 12 of their next 16 games will be against current division leaders. That schedule makes this series more than a simple matchup with a last-place club; it is a chance to bank wins before the road turns sharply steeper.
The tension is that the Orioles have recently been working through a run of opponents at the bottom of the standings, but this one comes with a built-in deadline. After Houston, Baltimore will move into a stretch that offers little margin, while the Astros are left to decide whether their bats can cover for a pitching staff that has not come close to matching the standard the franchise set over the last decade. Right now, the answer still looks like no.
