The Houston Astros are coming off another crushing series loss and now sit 7.5 games behind the division leading Seattle Mariners.

And while things haven't been going well for the club this year, some areas of the team are showing improvement. Despite all the injuries to the starting rotation, the pitching has been excellent as of late.

Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti appear to be developing into quality back of the rotation starters. Which is key with the injures to Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier.

Alex Bregman seems to have found his power stroke at the plate, but now that he's hitting, Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, and Jeremy Pena are struggling. It's just been one of those years for the Astros. They can't seem to get hot at the same time.

And when the pitching and hitting give the bullpen a late-game lead, they've struggled to hold it. Josh Hader and Bryan Abreu seem to have overcome their early season issues, but Ryan Pressly is another story. His command has been a problem for most of the year. His walks per nine innings (3.2) haven't been this high since 2015. When he makes a mistake, there's often a runner on base, which has cost the Astros several games.

Look at the bright side

One possible saving grace for this team is their schedule. If they can start stacking up series wins against the Cardinals, Angels, Giants, Tigers, and White Sox, maybe they can get back to .500 and put themselves in striking distance of the Mariners.

Be sure to watch the video above for the full discussion!

Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.