The final result wasn’t particularly noteworthy with a couple of Josh Bell home runs, but Monday’s start for Tatsuya Imai was encouraging in its own right.
Other than his one start against the A’s on April 4, I can’t think of another instance when Imai looked like a serviceable pitcher. It wasn’t a stellar night on the mound for him, but the stuff certainly looked better. Three runs in 4 2/3 innings wasn’t great nor terrible. That slider, for example, was fantastic.
For as much as Imai has struggled to start the season, this performance is hopefully a step in the right direction for him. Yes, the fastball command still wasn’t great. Bell, hitting left-handed today, gave him problems. But, again, the stuff looked better. Plenty of whiffs. While I think we would all like to see Imai develop a reliable third pitch, it is also important for his two best pitches to work well. Progress, even if slight, is still progress.
A lengthy rain delay would cost Imai the remainder of his start, though, with Jayden Murray taking over with two outs in the fifth. While the Astros were already trailing 3-0, that sixth inning would prove too much, with Murray allowing three runs to make it a 6-0 hole. Houston’s lineup would show some life in the seventh, scoring three runs to answer back, but it still wasn’t enough.
Now 19-30, yet somehow only 5 games removed from the AL West lead, the Astros still find themselves in a sizeable hole. With some players returning from the IL now and in the near future, perhaps they can gain some momentum. Hopefully, but I am not holding my breath.
Feature photo from Astros on X, source link
The ’26 Astros are a patchwork; we did what we could with what we had ($$$). But we cannot use it as a universal excuse to explain everything. For at least 3 years, the players are not ready for the regular season; they are still in Spring Training mode well into May. And then you have the countless injuries even before the start of the regular season. You don’t need to be an expert to suspect that hamstrings, obliques, and quad strains are related to PREPARATION. Watching the same movie for more than three consecutive years is unacceptable, and, frankly, stupid.