NEW YORK - In the Houston Astros' win Thursday that decided a series at Yankee Stadium, manager Joe Espada said he thought "the at-bat of the game" came from center fielder Daulton Varsho.
The Astros led 1-0 in the sixth inning when Varsho came up to face Gerrit Cole with two outs. Cole built an 0-2 count. Varsho worked a seven-pitch walk, extending the inning for Christian Walker, who struck a two-run home run that proved the decisive swing in a 5-1 result.
Varsho, the Astros' lone acquisition at the trade deadline, endured a rough start with the team, batting .125 across his first 14 games. The past week-plus has brought more encouraging results for a hitter the Astros hoped could help improve their outfield production down the stretch.
Varsho was 9-for-30 (.300) with five extra-base hits, including two home runs, over his previous seven games entering Friday's series opener against the Mets. He saw a modest six-game hitting streak end Thursday but had a 392-foot line out in his first at-bat against Cole and the significant walk.
"I feel like the at-bats the last week have been great," Varsho said Friday afternoon. "Doing a better job of controlling the zone … When I get out of my zone, I'm trying to chase things I don't need to really be swinging at. But I think overall what I've been doing lately at the plate, it's been working for me."
Though Varsho is better known for his center-field defense, the Astros expressed hope upon acquiring him that the left-handed hitter could raise the offensive profile of an outfield group that had baseball's fourth-lowest OPS at the time of the trade. Varsho had an 86 OPS-plus with Toronto at the time (100 is considered league average).
The Astros slotted Varsho in the cleanup spot for his first series with them, facing his former Blue Jays team, a move that reflected their search for impact there, as well. Just six teams had received a lower OPS from the cleanup spot as of Friday than Houston, which has started nine different hitters there.
Varsho has since moved around the lineup but made his eighth start in the team's past 11 games in the fifth spot Friday. Slotting him somewhere in the middle is key to balance a lineup with Yordan Alvarez hitting second, left-handed Taylor Trammell struggling and LaMonte Wade Jr. seeing sporadic starts.
"I think the at-bats have been better," Espada said this week. "He's hitting the ball hard, he's hitting the ball the other way. … Just the at-bat itself, he's kind of embracing that big spot more and he looks more comfortable, he's swinging at better pitches. If we can get him to get hot right now, which it looks like he's headed that way, we can really use that bat in the middle of our lineup."
Traded in-season for the first time, Varsho acknowledged later the jarring nature of the change both on and off the field, with his family settled in Toronto after three-plus seasons there. More distance from the trade and time with his new team may help explain the recent uptick in results. Varsho said he feels timing within his swing has also been more consistent lately.
"I think a lot of it has to do with being a little more comfortable, being around the lineup, understanding literally just the team and kind of just being around the guys a little more," he said. "Just understanding that I don't need to do more, I just need to be myself and go out there and just show it every day."
With the Astros carrying a one-game division lead into Friday, what occurs over the final 28 games holds the potential - for their entire roster - to outweigh any results compiled before.
"You want to prove to the team you're with that you belong here and you want to do well for them," Varsho said. "And obviously, facing your former team was not easy right away. But I think overall just settling in has been really good so far."
SubscribeThere’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at After slow start, Daulton Varsho is finding his footing with Houston Astros at right time.
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