Although the Houston Astros dropped its series-opening game against Baltimore at home to begin this week, they entered play on Tuesday tied with only the Boston Red Sox for the best record in the American League at 48-31.

Last week, Houston had an 11-game win streak snapped when it split a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers, who are managed by former Astros skipper A.J. Hinch. Still, Houston maintained a 1.5 game lead over the Oakland A’s for first place in the AL West entering play Tuesday.

After the three-game series against the Orioles ended Wednesday, the Astros left for a four-game road trip to Cleveland before they return for a six-game homestand with threegame series against Oakland (July 6, 7 and 8) and the New York Yankees (July 9, 10 and 11).

Bellville-Bronx connection

In the Yankees’ bullpen is a Bellville High School alumnus in Lucas Luetge, who has appeared in 29 games so far. In 39.1 innings pitched, Luetge has racked up 41 strikeouts to help record an earned-run average of 2.52 and a WHIP (walks plus hits over innings pitched) of 0.992.

Luetge was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2005 out of Bellville High and 2006 out of San Jacinto College and then by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 out of Rice University before his Major League debut for the Seattle Mariners in 2012. The 2021 season is his first action at the MLB level since he was called up by the Mariners for a game in the 2015 season.

Astro-fast stats

Entering play on Tuesday, Houston was well-represented at the top of offensive rankings across Major League Baseball.

Yuli Gurriel registered fourth in the league with a .332 batting average, he was tied for seventh with 88 hits, he was 10th in on-base percentage at .396 and had the 11th-most RBI in the Majors with 52.

Michael Brantley was not far behind in some categories but ranked second in MLB with a .344 average behind only Nick Castellanos of the Cincinnati Reds. Brantley’s 22 doubles ranked seventh in the league and his .388 OBP was 13th overall.

Shortstop Carlos Correa’s .400 OBP was good enough for fifth place in the Majors while a .303 average and .934 OPS (onbase plus slugging percentage) both registered 11thbest.

Although second baseman Jose Altuve moved into the team-lead with 17 home runs, that mark had him 14th in the league. Yordan Alvarez also ranked 15th in the Majors with his batting average of .297.

Many of these players, in addition to some other key contributors, were also wellrepresented in receiving votes to send them to the All-Star game in Colorado.

All-Star voting update

“The Houston Astros have seven finalists from the Phase 1 results of the 2021 Google MLB All-Star Ballot, which is more than any other team. Finalists are the top three vote-getters from each position (and the top nine outfielders) in each league based on vote totals from Phase 1 of All-Star voting, which ran from June 3-24,” an MLB press release says.

“The Astros finalists are Jose Altuve (2nd base), Yuli Gurriel (1st base), Yordan Alvarez (DH), Carlos Correa (shortstop), Alex Bregman (3rd base), Martin Maldonado (catcher) and Michael Brantley (outfield). Kyle Tucker was one spot shy of being a finalist among AL outfielders,” the release says. “The winners will be announced July 1 on ESPN at 9:00 p.m. ET on the 2021 Google MLB All-Star Starters Reveal show.”