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The Houston Astros welcomed back Lance McCullers Jr. on Saturday night after a 17-day absence due to a foot injury, but his return didn’t go as hoped. The right-hander struggled in his outing, giving up eight runs over just 3 1/3 innings in a disappointing 12-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
This was McCullers’ second difficult start of the season against an NL Central opponent and prompted quite the quip.
“The NL Central is kind of like my daddy right now — the Cincy start [May 10] and now the Cubs start,” he said, per Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. “Outside of that, I feel like I’ve thrown the ball well. There’s, of course, things here and there throughout the course of the games where you look back and you’re like, ‘Oh, I probably could have done better, extended my outing a little bit more, this and that,’ but overall I was throwing the ball after that Cincinnati game really well. I felt my [putaway] stuff was there, and it kind of just feels like I have to reset a little bit. It doesn’t get easier for me.”
McCullers allowed seven runs in 1/3 of an inning against the Cincinnati Reds on May 10, his second start back from a two-and-a-half-year injury absence. Between the Cincinnati and Chicago outings, however, he posted a 3.20 ERA across five starts, including two six-inning performances, before a foot sprain temporarily sidelined him again.
In Saturday’s game, Lance McCullers Jr. gave up seven hits, four walks, and three home runs while throwing 79 pitches, 41 for strikes. He threw 12 consecutive balls during the first inning and walked in a run before recovering to retire Nico Hoerner and start a stretch of eight straight outs. He totaled only 24 pitches in the second and third innings but was chased in the fourth after allowing seven runs.
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The fourth inning unraveled after McCullers retired the first batter. Michael Busch and Hoerner hit back-to-back homers into the Crawford Boxes. Statcast data showed Busch’s homer would’ve cleared the fence in just one MLB stadium, while Hoerner’s would’ve gone out in 13 parks. McCullers followed with a walk to Matt Shaw and a single to Reese McGuire before Ian Happ drove in another run with a ground-ball single. Kyle Tucker, a former Astro, then crushed a hanging first-pitch slider over the right-field wall for a three-run shot.
McCullers admitted that most pitches in that sequence were well-executed, with the slider to Tucker being his one major regret. He generated just one whiff on 28 sliders, a night-and-day difference from his earlier-season 28.8% whiff rate with the pitch.
Astros Manager Joe Espada, who had hoped Lance McCullers Jr. could throw 80-85 pitches, said this about the rough start: “Just to get him back out there and get him pitching, that’s a positive to take out of this.”
Espada noted McCullers “had enough in the tank” to escape the fourth but ultimately couldn’t finish it.
McCullers, who now holds a 6.61 ERA over 32 2/3 innings in this season looks ahead to his next start against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“I face the Dodgers next [in Los Angeles] and just gotta keep chugging, gotta keep pushing,” he said.
