Rookie hurler pitches in
Rookie limits Texas to one run on two hits in seven innings to earn first major league win
Rookie Jose Urquidy tosses 7 strong innings in 6-1 win.
When their offense is in full flight, all the Astros need on most trips through their rotation these days is a competent boost from a starter who isn’t named Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole or Wade Miley.
Saturday evening at Minute Maid Park against the Texas Rangers, Houston got all of that, and considerably more, from rookie righthander Jose Urquidy.
Backed by a brace of doubles plus a towering home run by Yuli Gurriel, Urquidy (1-0), who was called up Friday night to bolster a stressed Astros rotation, threw seven sparkling innings and struck out nine while allowing two hits in a 6-1 win that was played in a tidy two hours and 25 minutes.
Urquidy, who entered with a 10.50 ERA in starts earlier this month against the Rockies and Angels that totaled six innings, threw 98 pitches with 63 strikes in seven innings and induced 18 swinging strikes with a five-pitch arsenal that included 45 changeups.
The righthander hardly arrived in Houston overnight on a roll, having allowed eight runs in five innings in his last start Monday at Class AAA Round Rock.
But he was spot-on against the Rangers, going to a three-ball count against only four hitters and limiting them to a solo home run by Shin-Soo Choo in the fourth and an infield hit by Hunter Pence in the seventh.
The changeup, Urquidy said through an interpreter, “was important for me I focused on throwing it with the action I wanted it to get, and I was able to execute it.”
“I had a bad start in Round Rock (between stints with the Astros). You have a good days and bad days, and this was a good one. When I heard the news yesterday, I knew I had to focus on a good start, and I was able to do what I envisioned.”
The Astros backed the rookie with 11 hits, including three doubles in a two-run third inning and Gurriel’s three-run homer in the fifth before a sellout audience of 41,643.
Gurriel has homered in each of his last five home games, becoming the first Astros player to do so at Minute Maid Park since Morgan Ensberg from April 10-21, 2008. It was his 13th homer in 21 games and his 18th of the season, tying his career best.
Urquidy faced the minimum through three innings with three strikeouts and defensive assistance from right fielder Josh Reddick, who tracked down Danny Santana’s fly ball against the Astros’ bullpen fence in the first and ranged to his left in the second to catch Joey Gallo’s drive to the warning track.
He did not allow a hit until the fourth on his second run through the Rangers’ batting order. Choo led off the inning by driving a 3-2 changeup 416 feet just to the right of the batter’s eye, but Urquidy retired the next three hitters to limit the damage.
Urquidy ran his strikeout total to five in the fifth with fielding help from catcher Robinson Chirinos, who pounced on Rougned Odor’s dribbler in front of the mound for the second out. Asdrubal Cabrera went down swinging for Urquidy’s sixth strikeout to end the inning.
After Gurriel’s three-run homer padded Houston’s lead, Urquidy added two more strikeouts in the sixth. With Pence on first base in the seventh, he went to a 3-1 count on dangerous Gallo, but Gallo flied out to the warning track in center to end the inning and complete Urquidy’s evening.
“For a young pitcher to come up and do that, I feel great for him,” said manager A.J. Hinch. “He was incredibly creative, He threw his changeup a lot more and executed it. Some of that is game plan, and some of it is his feel to pitch, which has been his calling card.
“He throws the baby cutter to lefties, the big sweeping slider to righties, the occasional curveball and 94-95 mph. There is a creative side to him that he showcased today, and that is why the organization has been high on him.”
Beyond the individual accomplishment Hinch added, “From a team perspective, we absolutely needed it. We needed him to go as long as he could and for him to be effective. It’s a great day.”
As for the Astros on offense, they followed their three-homer third inning Friday night with three doubles in the third against Rangers starter Ariel Jurado (5-6) to produce the game’s first runs.
Myles Straw led off with a drive that dropped between outfielders Gallo and Santana in front of the Astros’ bullpen and scored on George Springer’s first-pitch double off the wall in front of the Rangers’ bullpen.
One out later, Brantley doubled off the wall in right to score Springer for a 2-0 Houston lead.
Houston essentially put the game away in the fifth with base hits by Brantley, who had a threehit afternoon, and Yordan Alvarez followed by Gurriel’s 393foot blast off the façade in left field.
Tony Kemp added an oppositefield home run in the seventh off Ranger reliever Phillips Valdez. Myles Straw, who with Tyler White’s departure joins Kemp as the most likely players on the bubble as Aledmys Diaz and Carlos Correa return from injury, had two hits and a stolen base and scored a run.
Chris Devenski pitched the eighth and Hector Rondon the ninth for the Astros.