There is an old saying that “April showers bring May Flowers.”

Its literal meaning is the abundance of rain in April helps the flowers bloom and grow in May.

But if you want to dig a little deeper and use the saying figuratively, you can link the rain of April to adversity, and the flowers growing in May could be the good times that will come after dealing with adversity.

The rain must have seemed torrential to the Houston Astros, who went 7-9 from April 7-25 and lost eight out of the last 11 games played after opening the season 5-1.

As the month was coming to an end, the rain seemed to lighten up for the Astros, and then suddenly, it stopped after losing three consecutive series to the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, and Toronto Blue Jays.

Houston has won four out of the following five series and has a 14-2 record in their last 16 games, including a current season-high 10-game winning streak that leads the Major League.

“Usually, when you have a winning streak, you’re either hitting the ball a ton or pitching a ton, or both usually,” said Astros manager Dusty Baker after his team won a doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday. “I can’t take anything away from our pitching. They’re pitching great.”

Great may be an understatement when describing what the Astros’ pitching staff has done over the last 16 games, posting a .182 ERA and throwing five shoutouts. During the 10-game winning streak, they have surrendered a combined nine earned runs in 90 innings.

One flower that the Houston organization is watching bloom in May is rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña. After mustering up only 16 hits and a .222 batting average in April, Peña has been on a tear during the first 12 days of the month, batting .394 with 13 hits and 10 RBI. His current nine-game hitting streak is the longest on the team.

“We have a great ballclub, and we show up every single day to win, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” said Peña, who went 6-for-10 at the plate during the Twins series. “We’ve been putting good at-bats together, our pitchers have been dominating, and we’re gonna keep it rolling.”

After completing an unscheduled doubleheader against the Twins due to inclement weather, Houston will head to Washington, D.C., to take on the Washington Nationals in a three-game weekend series.