The Astros finish 'terrible' road trip on their longest losing streak since 2013

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Eleven days, 10 games, nine losses and five injuries after it began, the most hellacious trip in Houston Astros history neared its end. “One to forget,” manager Joe Espada said, underselling the calamity his club just endured. No Astros team since 2012 had finished a 10-game road trip with nine losses. Until this one, no Houston team since 2013 has authored a losing streak of at least eight games. Both of those clubs were designed to be dreadful. This one fancies itself a championship contender, even if nothing during this dismal journey suggested it. “We’re a good club playing bad baseball,” third baseman Carlos Correa said. “That’s what’s happening right now.” Correa is back to lead Houston’s clubhouse, a fact neither Espada nor general manager Dana Brown have hidden since re-acquiring him last August. Correa’s candor is refreshing and his comments reverberate, both inside and outside the team he captains. When Correa speaks, everyone stands at attention. A few stood nearby when the 6-foot-4 shortstop put both hands on his hips and removed the crutch this club could use to rationalize its rancorous beginning. “Everything goes to injuries. I don’t want to attach our failures to just injuries,” Correa said. “Our failures are because we’re playing s—ty baseball. There’s no way around it. There is no excuse.” Correa is among the sport’s most cerebral players. He studies probabilities and percentages, is a connoisseur of advanced metrics and pores over FanGraphs and Baseball Savant in his down time. All of that data will run counter to his claim. Injuries to a reigning Cy Young finalist, two other starting pitchers, an All-Star shortstop, a six-time All-Star closer and everyday center fielder are an immense factor in Houston’s 6-11 start. Correa isn’t oblivious to something so obvious. His concern is allowing it to dominate discourse across the next few weeks, a stretch which may determine the trajectory of both this team and the people that built it. No timeline exists for Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Jeremy Peña or Jake Meyers to return. The team still appears to have no idea — or at least no explanation — for what is wrong with Tatsuya Imai. Josh Hader still isn’t facing hitters. None of this is going to change any time soon, a sentiment Correa seemed to underscore on Wednesday. “We have to just go out there and figure out, with the guys we have, how to win ballgames,” Correa said. “We have a lot of great people here, a lot of great players, we’re just not playing our best baseball right now and that’s why we’re not winning games.” Read between the lines and this feels like a challenge from Correa — either to those tasked with replacing those that are injured or those that have avoided injury and have been thrust into more prominent roles. Walking 61 batters in 82 ⅓ innings on this road trip is no way to meet it. Nor is finishing the 10-game journey with a 7.98 team ERA. Colton Gordon and Spencer Arrighetti will soon arrive from Triple-A Sugar Land to assist, but they can’t do it alone. “We know this is a good team,” right-hander Mike Burrows said. “We know we’re not playing how we should at the moment. Get back to Houston, reset, regroup, get on the same page.” Burrows is atop the list of players who must heed Correa’s mandate. In December, Houston surrendered two of its best prospects to acquire him, a small price for most farm systems but substantial for one without much top-end talent. Burrows did not arrive with expectations to carry a staff, but injuries around him have almost forced it to happen. For a man who began the season with 99 1/3 career major-league innings, it’s a big ask. Houston added five other pitchers on major-league deals to guard against this, but the sextet has now combined for a 6.83 ERA in the season’s first 17 games. On Wednesday, Burrows became the first Astros starter in 14 days to finish six innings. That he did so drew acclaim, despite the damage Seattle inflicted against him. Only four bullpens in the sport entered Monday with more innings pitched than Houston’s. Shielding it from further overuse, especially during a stretch of 13 consecutive games, is the sort of incremental positive Houston must savor. Nothing else about Burrows’ outing merits such acclaim. He surrendered six runs, inflating his ERA to 6.55 across his first 22 innings while accentuating the folly of falling in love with spring training stats. Burrows yielded just three earned runs in 18 Grapefruit League innings, breeding outsized optimism he has since failed to meet. “Just feel like I keep letting them down,” Burrows said, “so it’s a little frustrating.” Seattle battered Burrows for 11 hits across the six frames he worked. Josh Naylor, who awoke on Monday without an extra-base hit in his first 59 at-bats, launched two home runs against him. The second should’ve been a solo job, but a miscommunication between Burrows and first baseman Christian Walker turned Cal Raleigh’s routine groundout into an infield single. “It’s on me. I have to cover the base. Just a mental error right there,” said Burrows, offering proof of Correa’s profanity-based assessment of the team’s recent play. Burrows put his team in a three-run hole before the second inning. It grew to five after the fourth. Houston possesses baseball’s highest-scoring offense, but even it will struggle to overcome such substantial deficits against dominant pitching. That the Astros’ lineup finished this road trip with a .788 OPS — and still went 1-9 — is proof of it. Houston scored at least six runs during four of the nine losses, a statistic that must exasperate every member of the organization. “Tomorrow is a new day,” Espada said. “We have to go home and start all over again.” Five teams have won a World Series after losing at least 11 of their first 17 games. Four others captured a pennant, proof that this pitiful performance does not have to derail an entire season. Twenty teams since 1908 have made the postseason after starting 6-11 or worse. The 2024 Astros are the last to accomplish it, recovering from both 6-11 and 12-24 records to win the American League West. “It’s not good losing eight straight. I get it. But those guys in there make me feel like we’re going to get out of this,” Espada said. “We have to stay in this fight. We have to continue to help these guys every day get ready to play. But I’ve seen this before.” Managers around the sport are paid to project positivity and stay stoic in the face of adversity. Espada fulfilled both objectives on Wednesday afternoon. The tact worked two years ago, when he oversaw the recovery from a similar tailspin. Perhaps that could be a rallying cry for a club in need of one, but reality paints a far more bleak picture. Parallels between the two teams end at their subpar starts. Two years ago, Houston had a more talented roster that was undone by underperformance early in the season. Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Framber Valdez all played pivotal roles on the 2024 Astros. Houston has since allowed all three players to sign massive free-agent deals elsewhere. Ronel Blanco, the most valuable pitcher on the 2024 Astros, currently resides on the IL while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Correa would cringe at the thought of citing injuries, but it is a fact — one that fueled an awful trip that leaves this team teetering toward disaster. “Terrible road trip, I would say,” Correa said, “Just have to get back home, get back into the groove of things and start winning some games, play better baseball.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Chandler Rome is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the Houston Astros. Before joining The Athletic, he covered the Astros for five years at the Houston Chronicle. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Follow Chandler on Twitter @Chandler_Rome