Sometimes actions speak louder than words. For the Astros, the decision to have Bennett Sousa open the game against the Mets on Saturday with Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai on the roster speaks volumes. A combined $39 million to pitchers signed to be starters who ironically aren’t trusted to start games.
Honestly, there wasn’t too much to like about this game. Sousa lasted only 0.2 innings, allowing a run before Javier got out of a jam in the first inning. While it worked out that time, ideally, Javier would have instead entered the game with a clean inning. I mean, that appeared to be the plan. Of course, with Sousa’s recent struggles, you have to wonder if the Astros would’ve been better off by simply starting Javier.
But the Astros can’t expect Javier to work through the order more than once at this point, maybe twice on a good day. Then the wheels will most likely come off. That was the case against the Mets, with Javier arguably cruising until he wasn’t in the fifth.
Enyel De Los Santos would relieve Javier in the sixth, throwing two scoreless innings. Kai-Wei Teng would pitch the eighth and allow two runs. All said and done, the pitching staff would allow six runs in this game with the only offensive contributions provided by Yordan Alvarez (sacrifice fly in the first, a solo home run in the eighth). Four hits and three walks. The bottom half of the lineup was a non-factor. It wasn’t a good day for the lineup.
Fortunately, both the Rangers and Mariners lost, so Houston’s lead in the AL West remains at two and four games, respectively. And the first place Astros are now 68-68 with only 26 games remaining in the season. Still feels weird typing that sentence out because, again, this certainly doesn’t feel like a division winner.
Feature photo courtesy of Astros on X
