If there was any doubt prior to Wednesday’s finale against the Giants, then it ought to be erased. Although the Astros are paying Tatsuya Imai $18 million this season, they’ve reached a point where they simply don’t trust him to start games. I mean, that much was apparent for a while with his move to the bullpen. But with how this series unfolded in San Francisco, the organization, already short on starters, chose to use an opener instead of a well-rested Imai to start this game.
Of course, that kind of decision isn’t necessarily a surprise. Imai, after all, has failed to pitch past the first inning in three separate starts or past the fifth inning in five other starts. But the talent is tantalizing. He’s had multiple appearances in which the stuff looked fantastic. We saw glimpses of that stuff again during his three innings of work against the Giants.
But the inconsistency is still a real issue that he’ll need to figure out sooner or later. While Imai’s stuff flashed at times, he still allowed three hits and two walks earlier today. Six hard hits in total, with an average exit velocity around 90.5 mph. However, he allowed zero runs, which is better than the alternative, especially in a game when the Astros simply didn’t have any margin for error.
For the uninitiated, Oracle Park is difficult enough to hit in, and that reality was on display today. Yordan Alvarez hit a single in the seventh inning that would’ve been a home run in 26 out of 30 parks. Taylor Trammell hit a triple in the eighth that would’ve also been a home run in 29 out of 30 parks. It wasn’t necessarily a shock to see Houston’s lineup have some issues scoring runs in such an environment.
The bullpen, thankfully, held up well.
Bryan King and Enyel De Los Santos caused a little heartburn in the first inning, with King not able to get out of the opening frame. So much for Imai not starting, right? What’s the upside? Houston was only down by a run, and it could’ve been worse.
Other than King, De Los Santos, and Imai, we also saw AJ Blubaugh, Steven Okert, Bryan Abreu, and Josh Hader. Or, in other words, nearly the entire bullpen. Only Bennett Sousa missed out on the fun, if you could call it that. But the quartet of Blubaugh, Okert, Abreu, and Hader prevented the Giants from scoring any runs and allowed the lineup time to squeeze out a couple, with Nelson Velázquez and Nick Allen each hitting sacrifice flies to drive two runs. Just enough to win this game.
The Rangers were still playing as I caught up on the Astros game after work to write up this recap, so we don’t know yet if Houston’s AL West lead will stay at 0.5 games or increase to 1.5. But the Mariners lost to the Yankees, which means the Astros now have a five-game lead over Seattle. Honestly, I am still a little bit surprised by that development, but no complaints from me about it.
Feature photo from Astros on X
“It wasn’t necessarily a shock to see Houston’s lineup have some issues scoring runs in such an environment.”
Wait! The Astros had its second hit in the 5th or 6th inning.
6th inning. 2nd Astros hit.
Maybe Imai could do a Houser. Houser was in the rotation, lost his spot and went to the pen doing what Imai’s doing now. Today he returned to the rotation and looked way better.
It’s looking good so far in the 6th in the rangers angels game. 4-2 angels as the Angels are slapping Texas around a bit with a large Trout.
(hopefully someone picks up on that mIRC reference)