HOUSTON — Even in defeat, the Houston Astros continued their season-long trend of avoiding strikeouts, a stunning turnaround that has helped fuel their incredible success heading into Sunday’s series finale against the Minnesota Twins.
Despite falling 4-2 to the Twins on Saturday night, the Astros (61-30) struck out just four times against four Twins pitchers. Houston entered play with the lowest strikeout rate in the majors, whiffing in only 17.2 percent of its plate appearances.
That marks a significant departure from recent years. The Astros were 27th last season in strikeout rate (23.4 percent), 29th in 2015 (22.