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The Houston Astros’ Bullpen Continues To Fail


Jose Veras Houston Astros

Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros‘ bullpen is in bad shape. But what were we to expect? This bullpen was bad last year, and after trading Wilton Lopez and Brett Myers, the bullpen got worse. With injuries to Travis Blackley, Alex White and Josh Fields the pen’s depth just gets worse. Though last night’s walk off loss to the Los Angeles Angels had a lot to do with a JD Martinez’s drop of a fly ball, closer Jose Veras just couldn’t shut the door.

Like I said, this bullpen is worse this year than they were last season. This series was very winnable for the Astros, however the bullpen just let them down, and it will continue to do so this year. The Astros are in full rebuild mode and have had some promising moments early on in this young season. The fact that their record so far is 4-8 is definitely a surprise. When they’re not blowing opponents out, they’re not winning though. The big reason for that is the bullpen, of course.

The Astros have done some good things early on. Their starting pitching is looking better and better with each start, and the bats are coming around. The one downfall, of course, is still the bullpen. The starting pitchers keep the Astros in the game, but the bullpen gets the team right out of the game. Like today, Philip Humber threw seven innings, and he looked really good. He kept the Astros in the game as long as he was in there. The offense never took advantage of a struggling CJ Wilson, and that really cost the Astros today’s game. But, while the team was still in it, Rhiner Cruz was called into the game to keep it at a one run difference, and he promptly gave up a two run home run to Josh Hamilton that all but sealed the deal for the Angels. Had he kept the Angels scoreless in his one inning of work, the Astros would have still been in the game. The Astros lost today’s game 4-1.

The bullpen has failed early on, and barring some miracle, they will continue to fail.


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