Blanco Blanks Reds, Red Hot Yainer

Updates on xWins, Projected Standings, Batting with RISP and Who's Hot/Not

Fresh off a stellar performance from Ronel Blanco Sunday, the Astros continue their homestand with a 3-game series with the Kansas City Royals at Daikin Park.

Blanco limited the Reds to just two hits over 8 innings, while striking out a career high 11 and walking just 1.

Shawn Dubin finished it in the ninth, making his first appearance of the season.

xWins, Projected and Should Be AL West Standings

By outscoring the Reds 18-13 and winning 2 of 3 Houston improved their expected wins to 89.

Meanwhile, the Mariners were swept and low and behold the Astros are percentage points ahead in the projected standings, while they remain 2 games back in the real world and about a half game back in the “Should Be” standings.

Batter and Pitcher Projections

Since my proclamation on May 2 that it was unlikely Yainer Diaz would hit the necessary .362 for the balance of the season to reach his preseason projection, he has done that and more, slashing .368/.400/.579 with a 182 wRC+ over the last nine games.

With Dubin’s appearance, Houston has already cycled through 20 pitchers, with number 21 likely to make an appearance on Wednesday (Colton Gordon).

Who’s Hot? Who’s Not?

Rando Stats of the Day

The Astros are slashing .255/.329/.414 with RISP with a 104 OPS+.

The “s” in front of OPS+ below stands for “situational”. In other words, the OPS+ below is only for the situation described, in this case, batting with runners in scoring position.

As always, thanks for reading!