The Astros came away with a split in their weekend series against the Orioles and now head to Philly for a showdown with Bryce Harper and company.

The club was able to hold their own against one of the best teams in baseball without Yordan Alvarez doing damage in the lineup (Fri, Sat, and Sun).

While it's nice to see Yainer Diaz, Alex Bregman, Jeremy Pena, and Jose Altuve have success with the long ball, it's the pitching that's doing most of the heavy lifting as of late.

In fact, while the Astros have the ninth-highest OPS in MLB this season, that doesn't tell the whole story. Over the last 30 days, Houston is 16th in OPS (.729).

Even the lowly Mariners offense has scored more runs over that span. Clearly, this team needs Yordan to return to the lineup healthy, hopefully followed by Kyle Tucker in the coming weeks.

Over the last month, Jake Meyers is hitting .198, Mauricio Dubon .176, and Chas McCormick is sitting at .111. Manager Joe Espada is desperately trying to find a spark at the bottom of the lineup.

That's why newly acquired outfielder Ben Gamel saw work in all four games against Baltimore. He recorded 5 hits in 11 at-bats. We can work with that.

But in the meantime, the pitching is holding down the fort. They are first in team-ERA (3.04) over the last 30 days, and hold the lowest batting average against (.193).

Both Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti were fantastic in the Orioles series. And what else can we say about Yusei Kikuchi? The Astros have won every game he's started since joining the team.

We know the Astros gave up a lot to get him, but at least he's performed as well as anyone could have hoped. Something to note, though, Joey Loperfido has been on a tear for the Blue Jays recently.

He has 4 multi-hit performances in his last 5 games, recording 3 doubles, 2 triples, and one homer. The Astros outfield could use that type of production in the worst way.

But it is a small sample size, and I'm sure Astros fans will be revisiting this trade for years to come.

Hector Neris is back, baby!

We saw Neris is his first action after rejoining the club, and the results speak for themselves. It looks like he never left after posting an inning and a third on Sunday, without allowing any runs, hits, or walks.

Be sure to check out the video above as we discuss the struggles on offense, the spectacular pitching, and what we should expect from a reloaded Astros bullpen with Ryan Pressly likely to rejoin the team in short order.

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.