HOUSTON -- The Astros are desperate for any of their starting pitchers to work deep into a game, which is why they feel good about rookie right-hander Ronel Blanco getting the ball on Saturday. That would have been an absurd statement to believe a couple of weeks ago, but injuries and short outings by the starters have wreaked havoc on the pitching staff.

Enter Blanco, who has thrown two gems to start the season, including a no-hitter against the Blue Jays on April 1, and will be trying to get Houston’s starting pitchers back on track. J.P. France had hoped to do that before he was rocked for eight runs, eight hits and four walks in four innings in a 12-8 loss to the Rangers on Friday night at Minute Maid Park.

“Sometimes you’re the bug and sometimes you're the windshield,” France said. “The windshield hurt today.”

Astros starting pitchers have allowed 31 earned runs, 35 hits and 14 walks in 13 1/3 innings in the team’s last five games (20.93 ERA), striking out only 10 batters. Opponents are hitting .473 against Houston’s starters in that span, with the bullpen throwing more than twice as many innings (29 2/3) as the starters.

Blanco has started the season with no runs and one hit allowed in 15 innings in his first two starts, and he’s accounted for two of the Astros’ four wins, as Houston's 4-11 start is its worst since 2013. Blanco held the Rangers to one hit in six scoreless innings on Saturday in Arlington.

“Hopefully he goes back out there and has quick innings and gives us some quality innings and gives us a chance to win,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s done that all year. He’s the guy we want out there right now.”

France pitched a 1-2-3 second inning after giving up a run in the first and appeared to have settled in. With Hunter Brown giving up 11 hits and nine runs in two-thirds of an inning Thursday in Kansas City, the Astros had their fingers crossed that France could provide some length.

Alas, the Rangers batted around in the third inning, scoring six runs on three walks and three hits, including a three-run homer by Jonah Heim, to take a 7-1 lead. France gave up a run in the fourth, but stranded the bases the loaded to prevent further damage. Still, at 98 pitches his day was done after four innings.

“It feels like we’ve been in this situation here for too many days in a row, and we’ve got to continue to grind,” Espada said. “That’s it. We’ve got to fight and figure out a way to get those guys through five, six innings like I know they’re capable of doing. But right now it’s not working out our way.”

France said his timing was off with his mechanics, but he thought he executed some pitches well.

“That third inning, it was a grind, but I knew that the bullpen needed me to go as long as I could,” he said. “Especially going back out in the fourth and getting out of that jam and being able to cover a full four today was big -- obviously not what we wanted -- but big for the bullpen to get. Any out matters right now as far as the bullpen goes.”

The Astros have made almost daily roster moves in the past weeks to try to get fresh arms to the rotation and bullpen, which meant Blair Henley and Spencer Arrighetti both made their first big league starts this week. Reliever Joel Kuhnel was brought up prior to Friday’s game and gave up four runs in two innings.

Houston allowed seven runs in an inning Wednesday in Kansas City, nine runs in an inning Thursday and six runs in an inning Friday. It’s the first time in franchise history they’ve allowed innings of at least six runs scored in three consecutive games.

“We need to find a way to get over the hump, because there is so much inconsistency in how things are going and we know how to do those things,” Espada said. “We’ve just got to come out and get it done. If not, we’re going to find ourselves [digging out of a hole] every single day and we don’t want to do that. We’re a better team than the way we’re playing right now. It’s just a matter of time before everything kind of clicks and gets going.”