The air keeps getting rarer for Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, as he hit another career milestone in Tuesday’s game against Washington.
In the Astros’ 6-1 win over the Nationals, Altuve scored the 1,000th win of his career, making him the fourth Astros player to score at least 1,000 career runs.
It won’t take long for Altuve to move up to No. 3. Lance Berkman is in that spot, after scoring 1,008 runs in his 12 seasons with the Astros from 1999-2010.
The next two will be harder to run down.
Jeff Bagwell finished his 15-year, Hall-of-Fame career with 1,517 runs scored, putting him second in Astros history.
Who’s first? Another Astro-for-life, Craig Biggio. Also in the Hall of Fame, Biggio scored 1,844 runs in his 20-year career from 1988-2007.
Altuve is now part of a club of less than 400 players in Major League history that have scored at least 1,000 runs in his career. The all-time leader is Hall-of-Famer Rickey Henderson, who scored 2,295 runs in his career.
Altuve is working to get his bearings after missing most of the season due to injuries, including one he suffered during the World Baseball Classic.
Through 16 games he’s slashing 266/.365/.438/.802 with two home runs, seven RBI and 14 runs.
Altuve is a former American League MVP with two World Series rings, along with eight All-Star Game berths, a Gold Glove, six Silver Slugger awards and three batting titles in a career that could, one day, help put him in the Baseball Hall of Fame, alongside Bagwell and Biggio.
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