Astros’ season-defining 7-game homestand starts with a thud

HOUSTON — Before the most consequential homestand of his managerial career, Joe Espada emphasized patience. Nothing about the Houston Astros’ current state calls for it, but acting calm amid chaos is one of Espada’s hallmarks. The public — and sometimes perhaps Espada himself — may prefer profanities, but players appreciate something more measured.

“Urgency,” Espada said with an inquisitive inflection on Monday afternoon. “Every game is important. You play every game to win. But we don’t need to try to do more. You can’t do that in this game. We know how to run this race. We have run a race like this before. We all have to do it together, stay calm and continue to play good baseball.”

Continue is a curious choice of words. It’s also one of the main objectives of Espada’s job. All of the players inside his clubhouse can stare at standings, statistics or their record and realize their reality. Their manager doesn’t need to reiterate it, nor apply any additional stakes to a seven-game homestand already overflowing with them.

“I think simply being aware of it and acknowledging it is one thing. If it ignites some urgency and helps you play with an edge and brings the most out of you, great. Let’s use that,” veteran first baseman Christian Walker said. “But I think just trying harder just because we feel like we’re not playing our best baseball right now isn’t the best recipe.

“I’m confident that everybody in this building understands the opportunity that we have this homestand. It’s just a matter of what contributes to us playing better baseball.”

Walker and his teammates are running out of time to discover whatever that is. Their runway to survive on others’ misery is nearing its end. Four games against the Seattle Mariners precede a three-game series with the Texas Rangers, two foes with whom Houston must keep pace if any chance for a turnaround exists.

It’s difficult to call these seven days inside Daikin Park anything but seismic.

The first one ended like so many during this dreadful season, with a loss beneath an announced, apathetic crowd of 27,012 and more doubt about whether this team will ever give it anything to applaud. The 3-1 loss sunk Houston to 10 games below .500, a mark that would be a death knell anywhere but the American League or its West division.

Only four of the AL’s 15 clubs exited Monday above .500. Among them, only the itinerant A’s reside in the AL West. Sacramento is just 21-19 and with a negative run differential. Those facts can afford the Astros some hope.

Monday’s outcome tied them with the Los Angeles Angels — another divisional foe — for the major-league lead in losses. Somehow, Houston remains just four games back of a playoff spot. One good week can vault it back into contention.

Peter Lambert pitched seven innings of three-run ball in Monday’s loss. (Tim Warner / Getty Images)

Whether this club is constructed to craft one is a legitimate question. Failing to do so across the next six games will plummet Houston down the standings of this disastrous division, prompt serious discussions about the viability of this season and increase scrutiny around the people overseeing it.

“If you try to gain four spots in one day, it’s impossible to do in this game,” said Espada, who is in the final season of his contract. “One game at a time, one pitch at a time, one inning at a time. Do your part, win one game. You win one game, focus on the next game and, all of a sudden, you have a winning streak and, all of a sudden, you creep up.”

Little the Astros are doing suggests that is possible. Injuries have reduced their lineup to something more suited for a split-squad spring training game than the most meaningful stretch for a desperate major-league team. Playing without Jeremy Peña, Carlos Correa and Yainer Diaz have put pressure on the precious few established players who’ve remained healthy.

On Monday, most of them performed. Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes finished 7-for-14. The rest of the lineup responded with a 2-for-21 showing. Rookie outfielder Zach Cole hit fifth for no other reason than there are few better options.

Cole, Cam Smith and Brice Matthews, the cadre of young, athletic outfielders Houston is hoping can provide a spark, struck out seven times. Four of them came with a runner on base. The Astros out-hit the Mariners 9-7, but managed just one run. They have scored 80 runs over their past 17 games. Twenty-one of them came in two games.

Nine others in that stretch have featured two or fewer runs.

Alvarez is navigating the first slump of an otherwise superb season, though pining any blame for the offense’s regression on him feels unfair. Absences elsewhere in the lineup are magnifying his malaise. Ditto for Walker, who is 2 for his past 25, but still sports an .864 OPS.

That the offensive downturn is arriving as Houston’s pitching staff begins to stabilize is maddening — and perhaps the mark of a bad team. Across the past 11 games, Astros pitching has posted a 3.80 ERA. That is progress, even if the staff’s full-season ERA still sits at 5.50. No other team has one higher than 4.84.

More favorable fortunes for Mike Burrows, Spencer Arrighetti’s continued excellence and Peter Lambert’s prolific rise have helped to shield a thin bullpen from overexposure. Lambert tossed seven more superb innings on Monday night, undone only by a spate of second-inning singles and Julio Rodríguez’s mammoth solo home run to start the third.

Rodríguez’s shot staked Seattle to a three-run lead that Houston’s injury-ravaged lineup could not overcome, even if there were chances to do so. Three strikeouts followed a leadoff walk from Walker in the eighth inning. Alvarez struck out as the tying run in the ninth.

“I think everybody personally knows,” said Lambert of the stakes of Monday’s start and the six games that follow. “Obviously the season hasn’t gone exactly the way we wanted it to and we’re working really hard to change that.”

Six days remain to do so in a meaningful way.