Blanco’s first start provides big relief
The Astros began Thursday’s series opener against the Angels amid a grueling stretch of 17 consecutive games, with Astros manager Dusty Baker expressing concern about his “overtaxed” bullpen. In search of relief, he turned to a reliever to become his sixth starter.
Blanco’s first MLB start concluded after he completed three trips through the order. The rookie righthander allowed two earned runs, seven hits, one home run and three walks while striking out five batters.
When Baker came out to collect the baseball in the sixth inning, after Blanco had secured 16 outs and expended 94 pitches, all four Astros infielders converged and offered their congratulations as the pitcher left the mound.
“We just told him heck of a job,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “Altuve always says, ‘We needed that one.’ So he’s right. We needed it. Blanco was huge today, just giving us length, honestly, and not only length but really quality innings. Attacking, competing. It was huge.”
Blanco hung in for 51⁄3 innings, prevented the Astros from using any of their long relievers, and earned his first majorleague win as the Astros beat the Angels, 5-2 in the series opener.
Behind him, Astros relievers Héctor Neris, Byran Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly covered one scoreless inning apiece in the victory.
Blanco’s previous 16 big league appearances over the last two years were all as a reliever. Astros general manager Dana Brown decided this spring to stretch Blanco out as a starter, and though Blanco made the opening day roster as part of the bullpen and was later optioned back to Class AAA Sugar Land, multiple starting pitching injuries and a packed May to June schedule cleared the way for him to rejoin the Astros as a sixth starter.
“I didn’t really feel nervous, more excited,” Blanco said through an interpreter. “That's kind of like one of the reasons why I went back down, was for me to be able to come back and pitch in these situations. I went down prepared to get my pitches a little bit better.”
Blanco had not thrown more than 86 pitches in an outing this season. He appeared headed for an early exit on Thursday after he required 46 pitches to get through two innings, but he settled in and needed 18 total pitches to cover the next two.
By the time he came out for the sixth inning, he’d stranded six Angels baserunners and notched five strikeouts.
“The transition, I think for me, it was a lot more mental than physical,” Blanco said. “You know, obviously it was a challenge. It was a great challenge for me but I took it in stride and I think I’m doing well.”
Blanco’s best pitch is a slider that, entering Thursday, had generated a 57.9 percent whiff rate and .182 slugging percentage against major-league hitters this season. He is better against left-handed hitters and as a reliever almost exclusively relied on a four-seam fastball as well as the slider, though he wields a curveball and changeup, too.
Blanco navigated an Angels lineup containing six right-handed hitters and gave up seven hard-hit balls and one barreled ball on 18 balls in play while still leaning on primarily two pitches. All but seven of his pitches were either fastballs or sliders, and the slider concluded three of his strikeouts.
But it was Blanco’s changeup that followed two consecutive sliders and finished his basesloaded strikeout of Ohtani; Blanco said his plan is to use more of his curveball and changeup going forward.
Although Baker hasn’t disclosed his rotation plans just yet, Blanco’s current stay in the Astros’ rotation may end when the schedule eases up at the end of the month, or once starter José Urquidy returns from the injured list.
Either way, he will seek to continue giving the Astros what they need.
Houston got its offense from the heart of the order: Bregman, Kyle Tucker and José Abreu. Bregman extended his seasonhigh hitting streak to eight games, drove in two runs and walked. Tucker hit 3for-4 with two runs and two doubles, his third three-hit game of the season, while Abreu went 1for-3 with two RBIS.
Angels starter Reid Detmers began his third trip through the order and the Astros pounced. Jose Altuve singled and Yordan Alvarez drew a twoout walk to load the bases. Bregman delivered a tworbi single through the left side, scoring Diaz and Altuve.
Consecutive doubles by Tucker and Abreu in the eighth inning added another run and all but guaranteed the Astros’ win.
Here are some takeaways from the game:
Bregman’s awakening
Bregman woke up May 13 with a .201 season batting average and a .650 OPS. Over the next 18 games, the third baseman raised those figures to .247 and .726.
Thursday, Bregman joined Alvarez and Tucker as the third Houston player to cross the 30-RBI threshold this season (31).
In the last 30 days, Bregman ranks second on the Astros behind Alvarez in virtually every offensive stat: RBIS (16), batting average (.286), on-base percentage (.336), slugging percentage (.459) and OPS (.795).