Bullpen of the Week: Astros rack up strikeouts

If the Astros do find a way to climb back into contention this season, fans may point to this past week as the turnaround point.

And, with a closer look, they may find that Houston’s bullpen was one of the biggest sparks for the team’s rally. The Astros won five of six to get back to seven games under .500 and 7 1/2 games back in the American League West. The back end of the Houston staff piled up the innings and the strikeouts en route to winning the Bullpen of the Week presented by The Hartford.

BULLPEN OF THE WEEK WINNERS Week Team 1 A’s 2 Twins 3 Nationals 4 Phillies

As part of the MLB Prevailing Moments program, each Monday throughout the 2016 season, MLB.com is honoring the “Bullpen of the Week presented by The Hartford.” An industry-wide panel of MLB experts, including legendary stats guru Bill James, constructed a metric based on James’ widely renowned game-score formula, to provide a weekly measurement of team-bullpen performance.

Here’s how the Bullpen Rating System is compiled for each week. For reference, a weekly score of 100 is considered outstanding: • Add …

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