HOUSTON -- The curveballs came early and often Wednesday night and they didn’t stop for six innings, leaving the flailing Rockies helpless at the plate against starter Spencer Arrighetti, whose first start of the season was one of the best of the year for the Astros.
After having to begin in Triple-A Sugar Land when he didn’t make the club out of camp, Arrighetti pitched with a chip on his shoulder and delivered the Astros’ third quality start of the season by striking out 10 batters in six innings of one-run ball for a 3-1 win over the Rockies at Daikin Park.
“It was really personal to me to have that kind of success and be able to give the team a chance to win, give the bullpen a chance to kind of sit back a little bit,” Arrighetti said. “We had a crazy week on the road and, I mean, it sucks that that's reality. Everybody knows it. Like I said, I'm just really happy to give the team a chance to win tonight and silence some of those doubts for myself.”
Arrighetti, called up to help bolster a rotation that lost four starters to the injured list during a disastrous 1-9 road trip that ended Monday, hit two batters and walked four, one of which came around to score. He threw 100 pitches -- second most by an Astros starter this year -- and got 20 whiffs on 44 swings.
Nine of Arrighetti’s 10 strikeouts came on the curveball. He threw 38 curveballs -- 31 against left-handers and 7 against right-handers -- and 17 sweepers.
“He had an extremely high percentage of breaking balls, and we had no answer for it,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “We couldn't adjust to it. Huge percentage of breaking ball. Kudos to him. He went to it, and we couldn't adjust to it."
The 16 whiffs on Arrighetti’s curveball are the most in the Major Leagues since Framber Valdez had 17 on July 28 last year. It’s the second-highest whiff total in a single pitch type in a game this year behind Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski, who had 19 whiffs on his four-seamer on Opening Day.
“I just threw it in good spots a bunch of times, and they missed it a bunch, so I can’t really tell you why I was any better than normal,” Arrighetti said.
After a promising rookie season in 2024, Arrighetti missed four months last year with a fractured right thumb suffered in April and returned on Aug. 6, going 0-4 with a 5.26 ERA in five starts before being shut down with right elbow inflammation. The Astros added a handful of starting pitchers in the offseason, leaving Arrighetti to battle for a rotation spot in Spring Training.
He never really got a chance.
Arrighetti didn’t start one game in Grapefruit League play, and when he got optioned near the end of camp, he focused on trying to get his routine down as a starter. He knew he would get a chance early in the season. When Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, Tatsuya Imai and Cody Bolton all landed on the injured list during the road trip, Arrighetti got his shot after three Triple-A starts.
“There was a purpose behind why we did it,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. "We really wanted him to go down there and work on a few things, and he did. He knew that at some point he was going to come back up, and he's back up at the right time. There was a goal about going down there, pounding the zone, [throwing] quality pitches from the very beginning.”
Rockies starter Jose Quintana walked the first three batters he faced in the first before giving up sac flies to Christian Walker and Cam Smith. Yordan Alvarez led off the third with a laser home run to right field that was 107.2 mph off the bat and traveled a Statcast-estimated 375 feet. He added his American League-leading 13th extra-base hit on a double in the seventh.
Arrighetti joins Lance McCullers Jr. (March 30) and Hunter Brown (March 31), both of which came against the Red Sox, as the only Houston pitchers to have a quality start this year. Only Brown (102) has thrown more pitches in a game for the Astros.
“It’s nice to see Spencer do what he did,” Espada said. “He gave our bullpen a little bit of rest and we have an opportunity to sweep the Rockies tomorrow.”