Baserunning, timely hitting help spur Astros

HOUSTON — The Astros have been known for their pop during the past year and change, and they’ve been burned by their lack of timely hitting in 2016. After all, they entered Sunday’s finale against Seattle hitting just .222 with runners in scoring position, 27th in the Majors. And that was an improvement from the last-place spot they occupied in the stat for much of April.

But the narrative is slowly turning — albeit halted briefly by a frustrating Saturday loss full of missed opportunities — and a 5-1 win over the Mariners both earned them a split and temporarily healed a bugaboo.

The Astros went 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position and pushed across an additional run on an error while pushing the envelope on the basepaths and overall looking like a more complete offense. Manager A.J. Hinch expressed concern earlier in the weekend about Houston’s overall offensive performance and whether it was too reliant on big outbursts or the home run ball.

“We’re at our best when we can do a little bit of both,” Hinch said. “We’re a dangerous offense, given all the power that we have top to bottom. But to play this game over the course of a season and against a certain style of pitcher, we’re going to have to put the ball in play. The game rewards you for …

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