Bullpen role means change of strategy for McHugh
Another test for Collin McHugh’s transition to the bullpen came in the ninth inning of a game his team lead by six runs.
He had one day off between his April 2 outing and his first of the season — a 11⁄3-inning, 21-pitch effort in the Astros’ 9-3 win over the Texas Rangers on March 31. Manager A.J. Hinch tabbed McHugh to “get him acclimated to being a normal reliever” who would be ready regardless of how much rest he’d accrued.
Baltimore left fielder Trey Mancini loomed. Only the ninth inning remained of the Astros’ 6-1 home-opening win over the Orioles. McHugh’s first pitch touched 91.7 mph, a fourseam fastball that caught too much of the middle.
“Came in and thought ‘Oh, I’ll get strike one,’ ” McHugh said Saturday. “Kind of ran in the middle and he popped it. That’s kind of that starter mentality for me, clean inning, come out and let’s get the guys.”
Starting pitchers can enjoy the luxury of setting up hitters. They can alter pitch sequences or show pitches early in counts or in the first few innings to both establish a rhythm and keep their opponents off balance.
McHugh’s repertoire consists of as many as five pitches. For his entire career, this has been his procedure.
Now it’s one he must reverse, a reminder this at-bat to Mancini illustrated. Relievers enter to face hitters on their third, fourth, sometimes fifth at-bat.
Prior to his at-bat against McHugh, Mancini had seen 13 pitches in three previous at-bats.
“You have to come in way more aggressive and thinking every pitch you’re throwing is a twostrike pitch,” McHugh said. “I have four or five pitches, so sometimes it’s hard to figure out which ones to prepare when you have a certain amount of time. But I’m starting to get the hang of it a little bit.”
It’s the latest hurdle for McHugh to encounter during his switch to the bullpen that he acknowledged Saturday leaves him, on some days, feeling “kind of like a rookie.”
“It’s tempting to overprepare because you’re in there every day, but you can’t do that,” McHugh said. “You have to come in with a certain set of things I want to get done today to prepare myself to go out and play catch and then prepare myself to be ready for the first inning through the ninth.”
Hinch refused to tag him with the “long man” label before the season and dids not commit to solely giving the former starter a clean inning with which to work.
McHugh has made three appearances this season. He has inherited runners twice.
Friday, when he tossed 21⁄3 scoreless innings, he entered with Freddy Galvis at second base. Austin Hedges stood in.
McHugh required five pitches — two cutters and three four-seam fastballs — to strike him out, ending a sixth-inning threat and beginning his longest relief outing since 2014.
“I’ve felt like I’ve been able to recover really well,” McHugh said. “There aren’t too many days I’ve gone out to play catch and I’ve been like ‘Oh no.’ Hopefully that will continue. But I think that’s life in the bullpen.”
The Astros activated reliever James Hoyt from the 10-day disabled list on Saturday, optioning him to Class AAA Fresno, where he had been on a rehab assignment.
While still on his rehab assignment, Hoyt threw one scoreless inning in the Grizzlies’ season opener on Thursday and allowed only one hit.
Hoyt injured his oblique during the last week of spring training, when he was in competition with lefthander Tony Sipp for the team’s final opening-day bullpen spot.
He remains on the Astros’ 40-man roster, which has three players on the disabled list — Jandel Gustave, Brady Rodgers and Yuli Gurriel. Both Rodgers and Gustave underwent Tommy John surgery last summer.