Teng, Astros' staff silence Guardians for third straight series win

HOUSTON -- The pitching plan hasn’t always come together quite so neatly this year for the Astros, whose 6.22 ERA from their rotation in the first 17 games of June was the fourth-worst in the Major Leagues for the month, trailing only the White Sox (8.15), A’s (6.57) and Blue Jays (6.31).

Considering Houston had lost the previous four games started by right-hander Kai-Wei Teng -- who was 0-3 with an 8.83 ERA in four starts since May 29 prior to Sunday -- getting a combined four-hitter in a 2-1 victory over the Guardians made for an unexpected afternoon at Daikin Park.

Teng held the Guardians to one run and four hits in six innings, allowing Astros manager Joe Espada to line up his bullpen to perfection with three lefties: Steven Okert, Bryan King and Josh Hader combined to retire nine of the 10 hitters they faced, including six by strikeout.

“Okert, King, Hader, I can’t say enough about how good those guys have been,” Espada said. “When we get our starters through five, six innings, we can deploy those guys and they’re as good as it gets.”

Yordan Alvarez connected on his 25th home run of the year in the first inning, keeping him on pace to become the first Astros player to hit 50 homers in a season, and Isaac Paredes added an RBI single in the fourth on a three-hit day. The Astros have won three consecutive series for the first time this year, all against American League Central clubs.

Before Espada credited his pitchers, he praised veteran catcher Christian Vázquez, who got Teng throw four-seam fastballs on 37 of his 83 pitches for the day (45%) and lean more on his changeup Sunday than his sweeper, which is his best pitch. Teng threw only 20 sweepers.

“There were some moments where he recognized some patterns and said, ‘Let me stay away from the sweeper, let me use the fastball in this count,’” Espada said. “He used the curveball effectively and used other pitches, but both of them were really well-prepared, and that tandem got us through six innings.”

Teng was moved from the bullpen to the rotation full time on May 10 and had a 2.84 ERA in his first four starts before his control troubles began to arise. He averaged 5.72 walks per nine innings in six starts from May 16-June 15, but he walked one batter Sunday.

“He was throwing a lot of strikes today,” Vázquez said. “That was the main key. The last two outings, he was out of the zone -- a lot of walks and a lot of hit-by-pitch. I feel like he’s throwing a lot more strikes and they’re swinging early, and that’s very important. It was good.”

Teng said he had been working with pitching coaches Josh Miller and Ethan Katz to make some mechanical adjustments, and his pitch execution in the strike zone was much better.

“I really did a good job attacking the zone and getting strikes,” Teng said. “I think my fastball and changeup played really well today, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m better than previous outings.”

Said Espada: “He’s got such a good sweeper and teams know that. That’s why I credit Vázquez, because he recognized some things, when to throw his fastball. He threw some good ones to [Travis] Bazzana, who’s been handling them well, but he set him up well so he could sneak a fastball in. It’s just a well-executed game plan.”

Hader needed nine pitches (eight strikes) to slam the door on the Guardians with a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his fifth save in five chances since coming off the injured list June 2. He has a 1.13 ERA with 13 strikeouts in eight innings this year, with opponents going 2-for-26 against him.

“I just have to keep it rolling now,” Hader said.