Lambert returning to Astros is paying off for everyone

HOUSTON -- When right-hander Peter Lambert was told he wasn’t going to make the Astros’ Opening Day roster following a good spring showing, he was granted his release to pursue other opportunities. There were a few “internal talks” about signing with other teams, but he chose to re-sign with Houston on another Minor League deal three days later.

“I’m sure glad I stayed,” he said.

So are the Astros, who brought Lambert up from Triple-A Sugar Land in mid-April and have watched him become a rotation lynchpin. He allowed one run and two hits in a career-high-tying seven innings to lead the Astros to their second consecutive win over the Tigers, 4-2, on Wednesday at Daikin Park.

Lambert is second on the Astros behind Mike Burrows with 64 innings pitched, and his 11 starts are tied with Spencer Arrighetti for second most on the club (behind Burrows, who has been moved to the bullpen). Lambert is 4-0 with a 2.83 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and .212 opponents’ batting average in his past five starts.

“That’s two straight outings for him with no walks,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He pounded the zone, mixed all his pitches and kept a pretty good lineup off balance. I don’t think they even had a runner in scoring position. Strong performance. That was really awesome to watch, and then our bullpen came in closing the door.”

Lambert retired 20 of the first 23 batters he faced, with a hit by pitch in the second and a single in the fourth by Dillon Dingler as the only baserunners he allowed through 6 2/3 innings. Kerry Carpenter shot a homer into the Crawford Boxes with two outs in the seventh, but Lambert retired Colt Keith to finish the inning.

Jeremy Peña swatted his fourth homer of the season in the third inning to put the Astros ahead, and RBI doubles by Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes in the fifth made it 3-0. Peña added an RBI single in the sixth inning for a 4-0 Astros lead.

“As soon as I hit it, I thought it was too low,” Peña said of his homer. “I was sprinting out of the box like I always do. Us guys that don’t hit moonshots, we have to run on every single homer we hit. But it’s always good to have the Crawford Boxes.”

Lambert (6-4) lowered his ERA to 3.23 with a 1.11 WHIP. It was the fifth time in his career he’s thrown seven innings. He tossed seven scoreless innings against the Dodgers, outdueling Shohei Ohtani, on May 5 in Houston. Even in that start he walked four batters, but he attacked the Tigers on Wednesday and got several quick outs.

“Hitters nowadays are so good at not swinging at pitches that are outside the strike zone,” he said. “The first step and what we really tried to focus on was being in the zone and making quality pitches.”

Lambert has a lot of ways to get hitters with a six-pitch mix in which he relies mostly on his four-seam fastball (29 pitches) and changeup (19 pitches), which is his best pitch. Those two pitches accounted for all of his seven whiffs.

“Peter’s been big time for us,” Peña said. “It feels like every time he steps out there, he gives us a chance to win ballgames. He prepares every single day. And he goes out there and competes. Like I said, all you can expect from him is he gave us a chance to win ballgames.”

The Astros have won two consecutive series and are 15-10 in their past 25 games. They welcomed ace Hunter Brown back from the injured list Tuesday and are as healthy as they've been since early in the season. The last seven times the Astros got within six games of .500, they followed with a loss. They’re 35-41 heading into the weekend.

“We need to win series, try to find a way to get it done and keep going,” Peña said. “It’s a long season. There’s a long way to go, and we need to slowly keep climbing.”