Defense bails out McCullers
Starter struggles with control in his first action since 2018 but escapes mostly unscathed
Lance McCullers Jr.’s reintroduction to the Astros’ starting rotation offered an assortment of reminders, the sort of minutia a man can forget after 722 days away.
McCullers last made a major league start on Aug. 4, 2018, in Dodger Stadium. Changes consumed the organization and pitching staff in his absence.
Gerrit Cole is gone. So is Dallas Keuchel — “Dally K,” as McCullers called him Saturday.
The bearded sinker specialist always made McCullers remember they’re both ground ball pitchers. One pitch can extract them from the most miserable situation. A lazy one can cause disaster. A catcher’s glove placement may produce a pitiful first inning. McCullers lived all those adages Saturday.
“That’s what you learn pitching again,” McCullers said after a 7-2 win over Seattle. “I haven’t made a start in damn near two years in the big leagues. I wasn’t as sharp as I think I will be going forward, but for my first start back, it wasn’t that bad.”
McCullers survived six innings despite not having anything resembling the electric arsenal he displayed in an exhibition game against Kansas City earlier this week. Flashes of brilliance appeared, but nothing that could be sustained. His first two innings were plagued with no control.
Pitching coach Brent Strom visited the mound after just 13 pitches. McCullers loaded the bases during the first and allowed runners on the corners in the second. He walked three of the first six hitters he faced. Six of those 12 balls came on curveballs.
The pitch is McCullers’ pride and joy. He tinkered with it throughout summer camp workouts. It did not have the downward break or bite that McCullers is accustomed to. While working on the pitch in camp, he requested catcher Martin Maldonado to position his glove on the extreme outer half of the plate.
On Saturday, though, McCullers saw the pitch coming out harder than it had in previous summer camp starts. The movement was more pronounced. Maldonado’s glove placement now appeared misaligned.
“Opening up (the game), that line just wasn’t working for me,” McCullers said. “I was kind of yanking them into the other batter’s box, and most people were probably looking at those and thinking I was just yanking them, but mostly it was an alignment issue.”
McCullers generated just one swing and miss during his first trip through Seattle’s order, but he got 10 from the final 16 hitters he faced.
Moving Maldonado’s glove apparently allowed for a more crisp breaking ball. McCullers used it in the strike zone to get back in counts and spiked it to finish strikeouts. Two of his three swinging strikeouts concluded on it.
Before the battery fixed the problem, McCullers allowed his defense to bail him out. After walking twohole hitter Evan White in the first inning, McCullers sandwiched two subpar changeups around a getme-over breaking ball.
Forced into a fastball count, McCullers tossed a two-seamer. It leaked over the middle. Kyle Seager smashed it to right center field. White started running and wasn’t prepared to stop. McCullers saw Seattle third-base coach Manny Acta waving him around to home.
“I was kind of happy,” McCullers said. “I was like ‘Carlos is going to steal an out for me.’ ”
Seager’s shot bounced off the wall. George Springer gathered the baseball and uncorked a wonderful relay throw to Correa, the strong-armed shortstop with an absolute cannon. He fired a dart to Maldonado at home to nail Acta, and the scoreboard stayed untouched. Soon, McCullers fell behind rookie phenom Kyle Lewis, who launched a long home run off Justin Verlander on Friday. McCullers opted to finish off a walk and face Austin Nola. McCullers started Nola with a down-and-away changeup. The catcher chopped it to Correa, who started a double play.
“Usually the good pitchers, if you don’t get them early like that when you get them in trouble, then they usually settle in pretty good,” manager Dusty Baker said.
Another double play on a J.P. Crawford grounder erased trouble in the second. Correa finished the 46-3 job, then pounded his glove and pointed to McCullers, who finally found stability.
“I know I’m always one pitch away. Learned that from Dally K himself,” McCullers said. “No matter how bad it might be, no matter how many guys are on base, you’re able to get out of it with one pitch. That was my mindset for those first couple (innings), working around some baserunners.”
The Astros require length from their first three starters. Uneasiness envelops the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. The bullpen invites more mystery, though closer Roberto Osuna’s surprise ninth-inning appearance Saturday may allay some of it.
That McCullers rebounded to provide six innings Saturday was something of a saving grace. Houston again shielded the vulnerable middle of its bullpen from a close game. McCullers made it past the early problems, allowing the offense to work. He tossed 92 pitches and begged Strom for another inning — though it clearly wasn’t going to happen.
Every Houston starter got a hit. By the fourth inning, it led by five runs. George Springer and Yuli Gurriel deposited home runs into the Crawford Boxes.
The Astros did not make a healthy offensive player available to reporters afterward to discuss the drubbing.
“People must’ve forgotten we can hit,” McCullers claimed.
In his 722-day absence, McCullers did not. The finer points of pitching a full game may have eluded him, but 10 or so starts remain to hone it. McCullers acknowledged he removed his “foot from the gas” on a few pitches.
Against Lewis in the sixth, he threw a lazy breaking ball. Lewis launched it the other way for a solo home run, the only other mistake during his otherwise-acceptable return.
“Was trying to steal a strike and just flipped a burger in there,” McCullers said. “But like I said, that’s what comes when starting again and understanding you have to make good pitches all the time.”
“All in all, it’s not the best game I’ve ever pitched, but it was solid, and I showed flashes of what I’ve been working on (and) what I hope to continue to do this year.”
Astros update Saturday: Astros 7, Mariners 2.
Record: 2-0.
Today: vs. Mariners at Minute Maid Park, 1:10 p.m. Starting pitchers: Yusei Kikuchi vs. Zack Greinke. TV/radio: ATTSW; 790 AM, 850 AM & 101.7 FM (Spanish).