Hinch mulls choice for Tuesday’s starter
Placing righthander Brad Peacock on the 10-day injured list Friday left a void in the Astros’ rotation, but manager A.J. Hinch said he will not announce until Monday’s day off who will start Tuesday’s opener of a twogame interleague series at Colorado.
Rookie Cy Sneed, who gave up four runs in six innings of relief Thursday, would be a sensible option. Rogelio Armenteros and Cionel Perez, who have had stints with the major league club, would be on three and two days of rest if the Astros called either up from Class AAA Round Rock.
Jose Urquidy, 24, a righthander from Mexico, is another candidate. He recently has impressed general manager Jeff Luhnow, and he would pitch on full rest if called up from Round Rock. He threw six shutout innings in his last start, which lowered his season ERA to 2.85.
The complication with starting Urquidy is the Astros would have to make room on the 40-man roster.
Gurriel’s limp not serious
Despite walking off the field with game-winning hits on consecutive nights, infielder Yuli Gurriel showed a limp Sunday, stemming from a sore right ankle incurred while he rounded the bases Saturday night.
Gurriel was not in the lineup for the finale of the three-game series against the Mariners at Minute Maid Park, a 6-1 Astros victory.
“He’s doing fine,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He could play, but I made the decision last night that he was going to get the day off. I was gearing a couple of these guys toward two days off in a row.”
The Astros have days off Monday and Thursday sandwiched around their two-game series at Colorado.
Using McHugh the right move
With Saturday’s game against the Mariners tied 5-5 in the eighth inning, Astros manager A.J. Hinch debated which reliever to bring in for the eighth.
He went with righthander Collin McHugh.
“We chose right,” Hinch said Sunday. “He struck out everyone.”
Mixing his four-seam fastball with two breaking balls, McHugh caught Kyle Seager, Tim Beckham and Dylan Moore looking.
“He was the best he’s been since he’s been back,” Hinch said.
The Astros moved McHugh from the rotation to the bullpen in mid-May, then placed him on the injured list for 41 days because of right elbow discomfort.
Since returning to the bullpen June 25, McHugh has allowed one hit in three scoreless appearances. He pitched three out of five days. His slider has looked sharp.
Hinch hopes to build up McHugh’s stamina in relief to where he could pitch multiple innings, but he said the veteran is not ready to be stretched out.
“I do want to build him back up as a multi-inning reliever at some point,” Hinch said.