CINCINNATI – Kai-Wei Teng took the ball on Sunday at Great American Ball Park to make his second start of the season. His performance in the Astros' 5-0 loss to the Reds didn’t do anything to dissuade manager Joe Espada from his plan to potentially add the Taiwanese right-hander to a starting rotation that has been riddled with injuries.
“It’s going to take some more outings, getting him to throw that 70-, 80-pitch mark if we want to go that far,” Espada said. “The way he threw the ball today was better than his outing when he started in Baltimore.”
With a few guys close to returning and Teng as an option, things are beginning to look up for the Astros’ starting staff.
Tatsuya Imai is scheduled to return on Tuesday against the Mariners after being on the IL since April 13 with right arm fatigue. He’s one of three Astros starters who have spent most of the season on the injured list, including right-handers Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier, who both dealt with shoulder strains but have begun throwing.
Lance McCullers Jr., who left his start on Wednesday after 2 2/3 innings with a broken fingernail, is expected to start next Wednesday against Seattle.
Teng, who has made nine career starts, said he’d welcome the opportunity to join the rotation.
“I would love to be in the starting rotation, but I haven’t really talked to Joe about my future role yet,” Teng said via interpreter Andy Lin. “Wherever the team needs me, either as a reliever or a starter, I will do my best. Stay consistent, stay locked in and help the team get a win.”
Teng – who is the second Taiwanese player for the Astros, joining right-hander Chia-Jen Lo in 2013 – allowed three runs on five hits and one walk with one strikeout on 63 pitches (40 strikes). He surpassed his previous season high of 42 pitches.
“His stuff was up,” Espada said. “His velo was up from his previous start. He maintained his velocity throughout the start. Executed his off-speed stuff. I thought he threw the ball well.”
Teng (1-3) has been stellar in 13 relief appearances, posting a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings with a .145 opponents’ batting average.
On Sunday, he tied his season high of three innings. He also tossed three on April 28 at Baltimore. His career high for innings is 5 1/3 on Sept. 1, 2025, at Colorado.
Teng allowed only an infield single by Elly De La Cruz through three innings. But he ran into trouble in the fourth, allowing four straight hits including JJ Bleday’s two-run triple as the Reds went ahead, 3-0.
“I actually felt really good going back out for the fourth, but my execution in terms of my command could be better that inning, and I gave up some hits because my location wasn’t good,” Teng said.
The Astros, meanwhile, managed only three hits off left-hander Andrew Abbott (2-2), who walked one and struck out five in six innings.
“They did a nice job executing their pitches,” Espada said. “Just kind of kept us away from our strategy, which is, we force them to come in the zone, take pitches. We just didn’t do a very good job of that the last two days.”
It was a particularly rough day for Yordan Alvarez, who struck out swinging four times.
“He’s a great hitter,” Abbott said. “It was just my day today. I didn’t want to make a mistake to him, but I’m going to play to my strengths. So really, it was get ahead and then try to [give] him three chances to chase my pitch.”
Cody Bolton issued a bases-loaded walk in the fifth to make the score 4-0. Spencer Steer’s solo homer in the sixth off Bolton gave Cincinnati a five-run lead. Bolton allowed two runs on two hits and three walks with four strikeouts in two innings.
Despite dropping two of three in the series, the Astros didn’t pitch that poorly. Mike Burrows gave them a boost when he tossed seven scoreless innings in Friday’s series-opening 10-0 win. Spencer Arrighetti allowed one run and really had only one bad inning in Saturday’s 3-1 loss.
“It’s just been a much better performance from our overall staff,” Espada said. “We just need to build from that moving forward. Just pound the zone and give our offense an opportunity.”