Tropical storm leads to doubleheader
As Tropical Storm Laura approaches the Gulf Coast, Major League Baseball moved the Astros’ scheduled game Thursday against the Angels to Tuesday as part of a doubleheader and switched Wednesday’s scheduled night game to an early afternoon start.
Tuesday’s first game will begin at 3:05 p.m., and both games will be scheduled for seven innings. Wednesday’s game has been moved to 12:10 p.m.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said righthander Cristian Javier will start Tuesday’s first game, and the second game will be a bullpen affair, contingent in large part on whom Baker has to use in the first two games of the series.
As for moving starters up, he said, “I know that (Lance) McCullers definitely isn’t pitching on short days’ rest, and (Brandon) Bielak isn’t pitching on short days’ rest.”
McCullers is in line to start Wednesday. Bielak would have started a Thursday game.
MLB’s decision to schedule a Tuesday doubleheader came after Baker spent Monday morning joining other Houston area residents in buying water and food and filling up his pickup truck in preparation for Laura’s potential approach.
“I’ve never been involved in a potential hurricane,” he said. “I’ve seen the aftermath, 30something years ago, when driving through Biloxi, Miss., after a hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast down there. … I’m hoping (Laura) misses us.”
The schedule change adds a twist to what Baker acknowledges is a significant homestand for the Astros, who were 15-13 entering Monday night’s game. The doubleheader Tuesday will bring the team to the halfway point of the 60-game season, and the Astros’ fortunes might depend in large part on their performance during this 10-game homestand against the Angels, A’s and Rangers.
“This is big,” he said. “You look on the schedule and see sometimes games are larger than others. This is definitely one of the larger ones.
“We’ll be at the halfway point after (Tuesday’s) games, and so
I’ll point that out. I mean, it’s the halfway point. Hopefully, we can finish here in the first half, so to speak, strong and start the second half strong.”
Pitcher Humberto Castellanos, who was optioned Sunday to the Astros’ alternate site, likely will be added Tuesday as the extra player each team can have for a doubleheader.
“If we need him, he’s a pretty resilient guy,” Baker said.
Complicating the addition of other reinforcements in the near future is the temporary shutdown of the team’s alternate training site in Corpus Christi, potentially affecting the returns of infielder Aledmys Diaz and pitchers Jose Urquidy, Brad Peacock and Chris Devenski to the active roster.
A positive COVID-19 test involving an unidentified person using Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi led to the decision Saturday to shut down the alternate site. The Astros said no members of the major league roster were exposed to the virus, based on contact tracing, but the shutdown affects the return to play for the four veterans.
“We’re trying to get to where they possibly can come (to Houston) to work out,” Baker said. “We don’t know if that is going to be affected by the storms or not.
“It’s a shame for Urquidy and Peacock and Devo, because they were making big-time progress, and so with the facility being (closed), that is going to put them back a little bit. We were hoping we would get them back this week, but now that doesn’t look like it.”
Baker said Diaz also was in the group that is showing progress, adding, “That is putting the whole thing back some for those guys.”