HOUSTON -- The Astros are struggling to piece together a stable five-man rotation, which is a problem that’s only compounded when ace right-hander Hunter Brown isn't at his best. Brown continues to have trouble throwing his four-seam fastball for strikes, which has led to fewer swings against him and higher pitch counts.
Brown walked five batters in five innings in Sunday night's 3-2 loss to the Mariners, who took two of three games at Daikin Park despite Houston throwing its current most effective starters -- Peter Lambert, Hayden Wesneski and Brown. A five-run 10th inning Friday kept the Astros from getting swept.
Brown, who missed 2 1/2 months this season with a shoulder strain, allowed three hits and two runs Sunday and is giving up 5.24 walks per nine innings. Houston is 6-7 this year in games started by Brown, who finished third in the American League Cy Young Award voting last year.
“I’m just not getting the four-seam in the zone, really at all,” Brown said. “It’s making it tough to throw some bulk innings for the team, but I’m just trying to do my best to grind it out.”
The club hasn’t announced who will start against the Angels in a three-game series that starts Tuesday. Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai, both of whom have struggled this year, are candidates, as well as Astros No. 9 prospect Ethan Pecko, who didn’t make his scheduled start Sunday for Triple-A Sugar Land at Round Rock.
The Astros hoped Ronel Blanco would boost the rotation upon his return from Tommy John surgery last month, but he was optioned to Sugar Land on Sunday with a 7.71 ERA in 23 1/3 innings in five games (four starts). He gave up five runs and seven hits in four innings in relief in Saturday’s loss.
“I just think that we need to get him [better] sharpness of his pitches, and just be able to finish hitters,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s throwing strikes, maybe creating some [more] swing and miss. The curveball and slider could be better pitches for him, so we gave him a plan. He’s going to go down there and start some games and try to refine some of his pitches.”
The Astros have struggled to get consistent starting pitching beyond Lambert and Brown this year, with injuries and underperformance forcing them to use a Major League-high-tying 16 different starters. Houston starters entered Sunday with a 5.13 ERA, which was the 28th worst in the Major Leagues ahead of the A’s and Rockies.
Wesneski returned from TJ surgery on July 29 and had three solid starts (2-0, 3.86 ERA) before giving up five runs and seven hits in four innings Saturday. Still, he was the victim of some bad luck and said postgame he had some of his best stuff from among his four outings.
“I thought the stuff was probably the best it’s been, especially with the changeup,” he said.
Javier hasn’t pitched since Aug. 9 at San Diego after being skipped last turn through the rotation. He has posted a 4.30 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in seven games (three starts) since returning from a shoulder sprain on July 4.
Imai was removed from the rotation after a disastrous outing July 27 in Anaheim in which he gave up four walks, two runs and one hit in two-thirds of an inning, marking the third time this year he couldn’t finish the first inning of a start. In two relief appearances since -- most recently Wednesday -- he’s thrown six scoreless innings.
Meanwhile, right-hander Mike Burrows is hoping to be an option to rejoin the rotation down the stretch. On the injured list since early July with elbow neuritis, he threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his first rehab start Friday at Triple-A and is scheduled to start again for Sugar Land on Thursday.
“I think we were just identifying what I did well last year and trying to get back to some of those good movements that I had last year that can keep me feeling good throughout the year,” Burrows said. “It was really just harping on a couple of things posturally and [with] the release with some of the pitches.”
Burrows, who posted a 5.99 ERA in 18 games (17 starts) for the Astros this year, said Friday he had been dealing with elbow neuritis for six weeks prior to going on the injured list and was trying to manage it with antibiotics. He spent four weeks in West Palm Beach, Fla., resting and rehabbing, and said the issue is resolved.
“It got to a point [where] some other stuff wasn't working to get me to a healthier point,” he said. “So it was time to just make sure everything was all right.”