Houston Astros win streak lifts Dusty Baker to 10th all time
With their 11th consecutive win, the Houston Astros give manager Dusty Baker his 2009th, making him the 10th winningest manager in baseball history.
The Astros are the most exciting team in MLB at the moment. They have ridden their excellent pitching staff to put together a league-topping win streak and now their explosive bats come into play as they extend it to 11 games in a row.
Framber Valdez took the bump in the series opener in Washington and held the Nationals to just one run in seven and two-thirds innnings. Houston had homers from José Altuve, Yuli Gurriel, and Yordan Alvarez to give them a 6-1 victory.
Currently, the Astros and Yankees are tied at the longest win streak so far this season, but they can extend that to tie the club record of 12 consecutive wins with a victory Saturday night. Astros starting pitchers have allowed only seven earned runs in 66 innings for a 0.95 ERA during the 11-game streak.
The win on Friday also gave manager Dusty Baker his 2,009th win of his managerial career, passing Leo Durocher for 10th most all-time.
Baker was 192-132 in his two seasons in Washington, but was fired after the Nationals lost in the division series both years. He has been altogether more successful in Houston, taking them to the ALCS and then the World Series.
This was the first meeting between the two teams since the 2019 World Series, and the crowd in the stadium gave Baker a round of applause when he entered.
The Astros now stand one game clear of the Los Angeles Angels in the American League West, with sole possession of first place.