The revamped Houston Astros pitching rotation will look for improvement as the Boston Red Sox come to town Monday night to begin a three-game series.
The Astros split their season-opening, four-game homestand against the Los Angeles Angels despite a 7.64 ERA from Houston’s starters, who gave up 15 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings.
Tatsuya Imai (four earned runs), Mike Burrows (five) and Cristian Javier (six) struggled in their starts. The Astros’ offense put up 20 runs in the final two games of the series, leading to an 11-9 win on Saturday and a 9-7 triumph Sunday.
Astros manager Joe Espada seemed unfazed by the early results from his pitching staff.
“We are known for putting zeros on the board on the pitching side,” he said. “We’ve got some guys that are starting to get settled in new roles, and we’ll get it going.”
Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. (2-5, 6.51 ERA in 2025) is the scheduled starter for Houston in the series opener. McCullers was one of the best pitchers in the American League in 2021 when he finished 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA and seventh in the American League Cy Young Award balloting.
But he missed most of the following season after a flexor tendon strain suffered in the 2021 postseason pushed back his 2022 start until August. Assorted injuries then cost McCullers all of the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
McCullers made 16 appearances (13 starts) for the Astros last year following his season debut on May 4 against the Chicago White Sox, a 5-4 loss in which he didn’t figure into the decision. He posted three quality starts.
McCullers is 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in five career starts against the Red Sox. He has not faced Boston since May 31, 2018, when he allowed two runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts over six innings in a 7-3 home win.
Left-hander Ranger Suarez (12-8, 3.20 ERA in 2025) will make his Red Sox debut on Monday.
Suarez signed a five-year, $130 million free-agent contract with Boston after he recorded a career-best 151 strikeouts across a career-high 157 1/3 innings with the Philadelphia Phillies last season. He worked exclusively as a starter over his last four seasons in Philadelphia after serving largely as a reliever in his first four.
Suarez is 0-2 with a 5.91 ERA in two career starts against the Astros. He was the pitcher of record in a 1-0 loss on June 24, 2025, despite allowing only one run on four hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings.
With the bullpen having logged a combined 9 1/3 innings over the first two games of a three-game road set against the Cincinnati Reds, the Red Sox needed the 5 1/3 innings that Connelly Early that logged in their 3-2 loss in the rubber match on Sunday. At 23 years, 360 days old, Early is the youngest pitcher to start one of the Red Sox’s first three games in a season since Jeff Sellers in 1987.
“With where we were pitching-wise, we needed that,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Early’s 96-pitch appearance. “We don’t usually extend guys this early in the season, but he felt strong. He was all spring. He did enough to give us a chance to win.”
–Field Level Media
