McCullers to pitch on Tuesday at Sugar Land
Astros righthander Lance McCullers Jr. said he will pitch in his third rehab game on Tuesday in Sugar Land.
McCullers’ first two minor-league rehab games, one with Class AA Corpus Christi and one with Class AAA Sugar Land, were on the road.
Tuesday will be his first in front of a Space Cowboys home crowd at Constellation Field.
McCullers, who has yet to play for the Astros this season, is in the final stages of his rehab process after he injured his right forearm flexor tendon during last year’s playoffs.
He said he is prepared to throw around 65 pitches on Tuesday after he threw 40 in his first rehab outing and 52 in the next.
So far, McCullers said his arm has felt normal in between starts. He threw on the field at Minute Maid Park on Friday and is scheduled to throw a bullpen there Saturday.
If all goes well, McCullers will play another game in Sugar Land the following Sunday, after which the Astros will evaluate whether he is ready for a return.
Space Cowboys lose in a walkoff
Oklahoma City’s Miguel Vargas hit a tworun homer off Sugar Land’s Ronel Blanco in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the host Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the Space Cowboys on Friday night.
Marty Costes’ runscoring single with two outs in the top of the inning had given Sugar Land a 2-1 lead. Costes accounted for two of Sugar Land’s six hits, and Lewis Brinson hit his 15th home run.
Odds and ends
Lefthander Blake Taylor, who is on the 60-day IL and who had not pitched since early June, began throwing on Thursday at the team’s spring training complex in Florida. … Outfielder Michael Brantley ran and threw on the field Friday, but he is still not swinging or catching to protect his injured right shoulder. … Yuli Gurriel confirmed his right hand is totally fine after he got hit with a pitch in the eighth inning on Thursday. He said it caught his hand guard. … The weekend pitching matchups: LHP Framber Valdez (9-4, 2.74) vs. RHP Chris Flexen (7-8, 3.75) on Saturday, and RHP Jake Odorizzi (4-3, 4.25) vs. RHP George Kirby (2-3, 3.50) on Sunday.