Fiers solid in return to rotation
Mike Fiers’ return to the rotation had its ups and downs.
There were the opening five batters he retired in order, striking out two and needing only 10 pitches to get through the first inning. And he matched his season best with six strikeouts in seven innings.
But then there were the home run he gave up to Elvis Andrus and two doubles to No. 9 hitter Bryan Holaday, the first two-bagger leading to the Rangers’ second run.
But there was more good than bad Saturday for the 30-year-old righthander’s first start in 12 days, even though Fiers didn’t get the win.
“You get a starting pitcher that goes out there and gives you that kind of outing, more times than not you’re going to come out ahead and feel really good about it,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “We still feel good about what Fiers did, but unfortunately it was in a loss.”
Fiers was outdone by the Rangers’ Cesar Ramos, who tossed six innings of two-hit baseball. The Astros lost 2-1 for the third consecutive game.
“I felt like I pitched a decent game, but we just didn’t score as many as they did,” said Fiers, who enjoyed an average of 7.7 runs support in his first seven starts.
When Lance McCullers returned after starting the season on the disabled list, the 22-year-old righthander gave Hinch more than enough starting options. The team went with a modified six-man rotation when McCullers made his season debut May 13 in Boston.
Fiers missed a turn, instead making an appearance out of the bullpen May 15 in the series finale against Boston.
On Saturday, Fiers mixed his pitches well and worked quickly in the first two innings.
“All in all, he was finishing at-bats very well,” Hinch said. “The strikeout numbers crept up a little bit.”
Andrus got to him in the second, hitting a 3-2 changeup into the Crawford Boxes for his first homer since Sept. 23, 2015.
“He got it well enough to get it over that wall,” Fiers said. “I thought it was a good pitch. Maybe it should have been a little bit more away, but I can’t really be mad at that.”
The Rangers added another run, but Fiers worked in and out of trouble to reach seven innings for the third time this year.
He gave up a Prince Fielder leadoff single in the fourth and hit Mitch Moreland after striking out Adrian Beltre. Andrus followed with a drive to deep right-center, but center fielder Jake Marisnick ran it down. Three pitches later, Marisnick ran down another would-be hit to end the inning.
“We probably take it for granted that he saved two runs in one inning,” Hinch said.
Fiers left Holaday stranded at second in the fifth following his second double and Beltre at first in the sixth.
Of his 96 pitches, 64 were strikes.
“Just going off of Jason (Castro) — he knows these guys,” Fiers said of his catcher. “Not really shaking him off too much. He know these guys’ weaknesses and their strengths, so just being on the same page with him and just making pitches.”