Ethan Pecko entered his fifth inning Saturday unscored upon but with a reliever warming behind him in the Houston Astros' bullpen. Three batters later, his outing ended. Tim Tawa cued an infield hit into an open right side. Pecko pounced on a Ryan Waldschmidt tapper before Lars Nootbaar lined a clean single.
Nootbaar occupied the leadoff spot in the Diamondbacks' lineup and was facing Pecko for a third time in the game. His single put the potential tying run on base, brought manager Joe Espada out to remove his starter and reinforced an issue within Houston's rotation with 19 games left in a postseason race.
Two of five starters the Astros are deploying - Cristian Javier and Pecko, the right-handed prospect - are under tighter reins, with Houston hesitant to have them face opposing lineups a third time. Javier hasn't faced more than 19 batters in any of his past four outings, one of which he pitched in bulk relief.
Having three starters who will work deeper - Hunter Brown, Peter Lambert and Hayden Wesneski - can mitigate that usage somewhat. But it puts added pressure on those starters to cover innings and protect the bullpen, and on the bullpen to shoulder a significant workload at least two out of five (or six) days.
How sustainable that is down the stretch, for a club with a three-game division lead and 19 games left in the regular season, is a question. The bullpen has been arguably the Astros' biggest strength, yet it's also at less than full capacity, even with expanded rosters offering an extra spot on the pitching staff.
#starters #javier #right
Nootbaar occupied the leadoff spot in the Diamondbacks' lineup and was facing Pecko for a third time in the game. His single put the potential tying run on base, brought manager Joe Espada out to remove his starter and reinforced an issue within Houston's rotation with 19 games left in a postseason race.
Two of five starters the Astros are deploying - Cristian Javier and Pecko, the right-handed prospect - are under tighter reins, with Houston hesitant to have them face opposing lineups a third time. Javier hasn't faced more than 19 batters in any of his past four outings, one of which he pitched in bulk relief.
Having three starters who will work deeper - Hunter Brown, Peter Lambert and Hayden Wesneski - can mitigate that usage somewhat. But it puts added pressure on those starters to cover innings and protect the bullpen, and on the bullpen to shoulder a significant workload at least two out of five (or six) days.
How sustainable that is down the stretch, for a club with a three-game division lead and 19 games left in the regular season, is a question. The bullpen has been arguably the Astros' biggest strength, yet it's also at less than full capacity, even with expanded rosters offering an extra spot on the pitching staff.
#starters #javier #right
12 hours ago
