Solomon: Dusty Baker was right. These Astros are good.

This is the stretch that Dusty Baker predicted we would see.

He said throughout the early part of the season that his team was going to hit and when it did, the results would be impressive.

Boy, was he was right.

The Astros are incapable of being bad and too good to be average.

They pounded the Angels again on Saturday, taking a 9-1 win at Minute Maid Park. That came after cruising to 8-1 victory in the series opener.

The Friday-Saturday combo is the first time the Astros have scored seven runs or more on consecutive days this season.

“It’s good to see our offense going,” Baker said. “You knew these guys were going to hit sooner or later.”

This is less a hot streak than it is a natural correction as the result of players who had slow starts finding their grooves. Just as Baker told us they would.

For a while, we were inclined to believe him, but two months into the season, the numbers didn’t look good.

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One had to wonder how long pitching could carry the team.

Well, that panic button some of us pushed was a bit premature.

Nine of the 15 games in which Houston has scored eight or more runs have come in the last month. Not surprisingly, the Astros are 15-0 in those games.

The Astros, who sprayed five home runs into the outfield seats on Saturday, are still tied for only 18th in runs scored. But since June 1 they have averaged five runs a game, a full run better than they plated per contest in the first two months of the season.

This is a modern-day baseball team. The Astros are hitting only .238, but are 35-4 when they hit more than one home run in a game.

When Martin Maldonado goes deep twice, you know you are rolling.

They have been in first place in the American League West since May 11, and their lead has grown to 12½ games.

Of course, Houston is the only team in the division with a winning record. But the Astros have had some say in that, thanks to a 23-12 mark in the division, including a 6-3 record against the Angels.

Pitching has continued to be stellar, which is why the Astros have been the best team in baseball for the past few weeks.

The Astros have allowed only 25 runs in the last 12 games, a stretch in which they are 10-2.

Jose Urquidy gave up just one run to the Angels on only two hits in six innings of work on Saturday. He has given up just three runs in his last three starts.

He was also perfect against Mike Trout, sitting the Angels’ star outfielder down with three strikeouts on only nine pitches.

Across the board, the Astros’ numbers look good.

At 50-27, Houston has the second-best record in the major leagues.

Only once has the Astros gotten off to a better start.

That was in 2017.

They weren’t just hot at that point in the season that year. They were just good.

World Series championship good.

jerome.solomon@chron.com

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