Could Mike Burrows return to the Astros’ rotation soon? If his first three rehab outings at Triple-A Sugar Land are any indication, the right-hander appears to be healthy and is throwing well enough in the Minor Leagues to perhaps be able to provide some help to Houston’s struggling starting corps.
How did he perform?
Burrows, who’s been out for more than a month with right elbow neuritis, threw 4 1/3 innings on Wednesday night against Las Vegas at Las Vegas Ballpark, allowing seven hits, two walks and three runs while striking out seven batters. That came on the heels of a scoreless outing last Thursday against Oklahoma City.
Burrows threw 52 of 77 pitches for strikes and four of his seven strikeouts came on his changeup. His four-seam fastball touched 97.1 mph.
What’s next?
The Astros might choose to give Burrows another rehab start, but considering the woes of Houston’s rotation, his next outing could come in a big league uniform. The Astros are currently in a stretch of 13 consecutive games without a day off.
What are they saying?
Burrows said Saturday that he had been dealing with the elbow issue for about six weeks before going on the injured list.
“We were getting through innings,” he said. “It would be one inning that was a letdown for me, and kind of blemish the whole outing. I was good enough to keep going, for sure. It's the bigs. You just roll, you just keep going with whatever you have. When it just keeps going, it kind of gets to a point of redundancy, and when it just worsens, you get to a point of just trying to make that next start, and it gets harder and harder.”
What else?
One of the Astros’ biggest offseason additions, coming to Houston from the Pirates in a three-team trade that cost the Astros two top prospects, Burrows posted a 5.99 ERA in 18 games (17 starts). In his last start for the Astros on July 6, Burrows allowed 10 runs (seven earned) in 4 1/3 innings in a loss to the Nationals.