BOSTON -- The defending World Series champion Dodgers and former Astros slugger Kyle Tucker will be in Houston beginning Monday for a three-game series, but another game with significance to the Astros will take place Tuesday about 25 miles from Daikin Park.
Astros closer Josh Hader, who has been out all season with left biceps tendinitis, will make his first Minor League rehab appearance Tuesday for Triple-A Sugar Land in the same game in which Tatsuya Imai will start in his second rehab outing. Astros pitcher Nate Pearson is also scheduled to make his first rehab outing Tuesday at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
Hader can’t come off the 60-day injured list until May 24, but the Astros are hopeful that Imai can rejoin the big league rotation following his start Tuesday for the Space Cowboys.
Imai allowed five runs on six hits in two innings in his first rehab outing for Double-A Corpus Christi on Tuesday, throwing 59 pitches, 31 for strikes. He struck out two batters, walked three hitters and allowed a home run. He hit 97 mph, so there’s no concern about his health, but Astros manager Joe Espada said Saturday that Imai will need better results.
“Just better results, better outcome, more strikes, more competitive pitches in the zone,” Espada said. “I want him to just to feel good about his outing, but health-wise there’s no concerns right now.”
Imai, signed out of Japan on Jan. 5 to a three-year contract worth $54 million, had a strong spring for the Astros before stumbling at the start of the regular season. He posted a 7.27 ERA in three starts before going on the injured list with arm fatigue.
Imai allowed three hits in 5 2/3 innings in his second start of the season April 4 in West Sacramento before a disastrous outing April 10 in Seattle where he recorded one out and walked four batters. The following day, he flew back to Houston and later said he’s had trouble adapting to American culture on and off the field.
“He’s always been a strike-thrower,” Espada said of Imai. “He never showed signs of not competing in the strike zone. I think he showed the ability to do that in Sacramento and went to Seattle and the arm fatigue cut his outing short. But right now, his last start, he just struggled throwing strikes against left-handed hitters. We're trying to get him where he feels comfortable throwing all his stuff in the zone and we’re working with him through that.”
Hader, who missed the final two months of last season with a left shoulder capsule strain, was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis at the start of February and has been slowly working his way back since. The Astros have sorely missed him, considering Bryan Abreu struggled in the closer role and typically no longer pitches in high-leverage situations.
Hader, who saved 28 games for the Astros in 2025 and made his sixth All-Star team, landed on the 15-day injured list last August after reporting some left shoulder discomfort while working out at Daikin Park. He didn’t pitch again in '25 after his Aug. 8 outing against the Yankees in which he threw two innings.
Pearson, who had offseason surgery to clean up his right elbow, had his throwing program slowed down in the spring because of soreness. He’s returned to the mound, making a pair of Minor League rehab starts, including Wednesday at Corpus Christi. He threw 53 pitches (28 strikes) in two innings, allowing four hits, four runs and three walks while striking out three batters.