After a slow start to the season http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-cozart-jersey , the winning streak in the Majors since, well, the Houston Astros won 12 straight last June. There are..."After a slow start to the season, the Houston Astros have reeled off nine straight wins—the longest winning streak in the Majors since, well, the Houston Astros won 12 straight last June. There are sure to be some rough patches during a long baseball season, so let’s take advantage of the Astros’ recent excellence and reflect on some of the keys for them during this stretch.Jose AltuveJust a couple weeks ago, following a 6-4 Astros loss to the Rangers, Jose Altuve was slashing .174/.240/.348. Sure, we were like six games in, but it seemed as though Altuve wasn’t fully healthy and that his performance was a missing piece in a sluggish start to the season.Well, he’s back, y’all.During the Astros’ nine-game winning streak, Altuve has nearly as many homers (6) as strikeouts (7) to go with 12 RBI and 10 runs scored. Altuve ripped a homer in five consecutive games—one off the team record held by Morgan Ensberg (April 14-20, 2006)—and four of his six long balls tied the game or gave the Astros a lead.Altuve is slashing .405/.439/.919 over the last nine games, though he somehow didn’t win the American League Player of the Week award. Regardless, Altuve has obviously gone to another level the past 10 days, which has renewed chatter about his MVP status.Collin McHughMcHugh has been brilliant for the Astros in each of his first three starts in 2019. Following a season in which he was one of baseball’s best relievers Blake Parker Jersey , McHugh has already provided about one-third of the bWAR and almost half of the fWAR he did a year ago. He’s only pitched 17 innings. During the Astros’ winning streak, McHugh has thrown 12 innings and allowed three earned runs to go with 13 strikeouts. He’s only given up seven hits in that span and beaten the Oakland A’s and New York Yankees, two playoff teams from a year ago. McHugh has been able to bewilder opponents with a heavy dose of his slider, which he’s throwing over 40% of the time and nearly twice as often as he did during a phenomenal 2018 campaign.McHugh’s pitch selection during his careerFanGraphsAs the say, the proof is in the pudding.In his most recent start, McHugh struck out Yankees’ slugger Aaron Judge all three times he faced him. For the season, McHugh’s K-BB% is nearly identical to a year ago (25.7% in 2019) and he is putting up strikeout numbers comparable to the game’s elite.Carlos Correa and the Improved DefenseAnother guy who looks like a potential MVP through the early stages of the season is Carlos Correa, and not just because of his stick. Correa’s mix of elegance and sheer strength has led to some dazzling plays in the field for the Astros.The defense has quickly improved following Correa’s brief absence to begin the season. After committing four errors in the team’s first three games (all of which Correa missed with a minor neck injury), the Astros only have three errors during the win streak. On top of that, Correa’s return has allowed the Astros to lengthen their lineup in ways we were used to in 2017. Here’s a great stat showing the improved contact Correa is making—the best of his career, in fact—so far this season.Jake Marisnick has also been really good defensively (duh) as well as at the plate. Even if his bat drops off a bit, Jake routinely makes difficult plays look simple and is a great luxury for the Astros to have on the roster.BullpenThe combo of Will Harris, Ryan Pressly, and Roberto Osuna has been outstanding for the Astros, particularly during the win streak. The trio has pitched 14 innings over the last nine games and has 15 strikeouts, three walks, two wins, seven saves http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-cozart-jersey , and only one run allowed. The dominance of Pressly-Osuna, in particular, has given the Astros one of the game’s best 8th/9th inning duos.A.J. HinchHe never gets enough credit, but Hinch inspires with his subtle yet sturdy confidence in his players and himself, as he did about two weeks ago in Arlington.Hinch made the right decision going with Pressly for a four-out save against the Yankees last week and has also been willing to shuffle the lineup to keep the bench options ready and the regulars fresh.Ron KulpaSpeaking of, shout out to Ron (who made another big mistake last night). The Astros haven’t lost since this guy went at them.Help from the OthersUnlikely heroes are needed to stretch all a team can out of a prolonged winning streak. We’ve seen big at-bats and home runs during the win streak from:Tony Kemp Yuli Gurriel Robinson Chirinosand Aledmys DiazLastly, just a Little bit of LuckThe final ingredient, a dose of luck, is always essential to sustain a winning streak. Altuve, one of the most swing-friendly hitters in the league, drew a walkoff walk to beat the Oakland Athletics.The next night, Correa’s broken-bat infield hit was enough to score the winning run and cap a late rally over the New York Yankees.In the series against the Seattle Mariners, Dee Gordon dropped a liner from George Springer to keep the inning alive. Altuve crushed a grand slam on the next pitch.Even in the Astros’ most recent win, Roberto Osuna watched a drive from former Astro Domingo Santana hook just foul in the bottom of the ninth of a one-run game.Tonight, the Astros look to extend their streak to 10 straight wins against the A’s. How long do you think the streak will go? Will the Astros break the franchise record of 12 straight victories? The Diamondbacks completed the sweep and now the Braves will be heading to Cleveland after three bad games."Despite the fact that it was a beautiful day at SunTrust Park, the action on the field wasn’t so beautiful as the Braves ended up getting swept by the Diamondbacks after losing 4-1. The good news about today’s game is that Mike Soroka had a pretty good return to the big leagues, as he went five innings and struck out six while giving up two walks. Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly come out of the gates firing on all cylinders as his first inning was one that we’d like to forget. After getting a quick out to start the game Justin Verlander Jersey , Soroka gave up two singles in a row and then threw a wild pitch to move both runners into scoring position. This culminated with Adam Jones getting a productive groundout to bring in the first run of the day. Soroka was able to limit the damage to just that one run, but Arizona’s one run ended up holding up for most of the day. That’s because the Braves’ bats just couldn’t figure out Luke Weaver today. He got battered by the Braves the last time he came to SunTrust Park, so it appears as if Weaver came to SunTrust Park with vengeance on his mind. He went five innings just like Mike Soroka did, but he finished with nine strikeouts and just one walk. The Braves did get four hits off of him, but they were unable to string any of those hits into a meaningful rally, so the Braves didn’t put any runs on the board while Weaver was out there. Yet again, this game came down to which team’s bullpen could avoid calamity and once again, it ended up being the Braves who were the first to crumble. Chad Sobotka entered the game in the seventh inning and after getting the first out of the inning with no problem, he gave up a single and then Christian Walker continued his domination of the Braves in this series by hitting another homer. The damage didn’t stop there. Tim Locastro walked, stole a base and then made it to third after Johan Camargo capped off a rough day at third base with a throwing error. Then Nick Ahmed entered as a pinch-hitter and promptly delivered a ground-rule double down the left field line to score Arizona’s third run of the inning. That was finally enough for Brian Snitker, as Chad Sobotka exited the game to a smattering of boos from the matinee crowd at SunTrust Park. That’s been a familiar reception for Braves relievers as of late, huh. Fortunately, the Braves didn’t get shut out today. Freddie Freeman made sure of that as he launched a bomb out into right field for Atlanta’s only run of the game. They got another baserunner on in the ninth inning, but they were unable to cash him in and the Braves ended up getting swept by the Diamondbacks. The sweep was definitely a big shock when you consider how well the team was playing heading into this series, but it makes sense when you consider that each game the Braves lost was a direct result of the bullpen failing to keep runs off of the board. If anything, this series should be an eye-opener when it comes to the franchise potentially taking steps to do something about the bullpen, because this is absolutely a problem at the moment.