Right-hander Bryan Abreu is integral to a Houston bullpen that has excelled this season, but the fact that his two hiccups thus far have come against the Seattle Mariners is noteworthy.
Abreu entered the third game of this four-game series between American League West rivals having allowed five earned runs in 23 appearances, with all five coming against the Mariners. But after surrendering two runs and the lead in a loss on Friday, Abreu bounced back with a pair of strikeouts in the eighth inning of the Astros’ 2-1 victory over the visiting Mariners on Saturday.
“No concern there with Abreu. He’s human,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s really, really good, and he’s going to have nights where things are not going to go his way. But (Saturday) he came out and handed the ball to [closer Josh] Hader with a clean inning.”
The Astros have won two of the first three games in the series.
Rookie left-hander Colton Gordon (0-0, 5.59 ERA) is scheduled to start the series finale for the Astros on Sunday. It will mark the third career start for Gordon, who allowed three runs on five hits with seven strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings but did not factor into the decision of a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday. Gordon made his big league debut on May 14 against the Kansas City Royals and allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings in the Astros’ 4-3 victory.
Gordon will make his first career start against the Mariners and first against an American League West foe.
Right-hander Luis Castillo (4-3, 3.20) has the starting assignment for the Mariners. Castillo threw seven shutout innings in a 5-1 win over the Chicago White Sox on Monday, allowing three hits with five strikeouts. A three-time All-Star, Castillo is 13-9 with a 3.12 ERA over 30 career starts against AL West opponents.
Castillo is 2-2 with a 3.27 ERA over seven career starts against the Astros. He did not factor into the decision of a 2-1, 12-inning loss on April 8 after tossing five shutout innings with five hits, two walks and six strikeouts on his ledger.
Mired in an extended slump stretching back nearly three weeks, Mariners designated hitter Jorge Polanco was out of the lineup on Saturday. After going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on Friday, Polanco is batting .091 with six strikeouts on the Mariners’ current road trip. Since boosting his OPS to 1.250 on May 3, Polanco is hitting .130 over his past 16 games.
Polanco became the ninth player in franchise history to record three-plus hits and a home run on Opening Day, and he earned his first Player of the Week honor for April 21-27 after batting .471 with five runs, two doubles, four homers and eight RBIs over five games.
“He was so solid for us early, and sometimes that’s just baseball,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “It kind of comes back a little bit. Even with a tougher stretch for him, having his presence in the lineup is big. Getting a blow … it’s a good chance for him to catch his breath a little bit.
“He’s just been such a solid force for us all the way through, and just having his name in there has been good for us.”
-Field Level Media
