'One of those days': McCullers' return from IL spoiled by hot Cubs bats

HOUSTON -- Astros right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. had settled into somewhat of a good routine before a freak injury in the weight room two weeks ago sent the veteran back onto the injured list, where he’s spent much of the previous three seasons. His return Saturday night didn’t go well.

Following a 17-day layoff, McCullers faced the Cubs and gave up eight runs, four walks and seven hits, including three home runs, in 3 1/3 innings in a 12-3 loss. That snapped the Astros’ five-game winning streak and their season-high nine-game winning streak at Daikin Park.

McCullers has given up 15 earned runs in two starts against the Reds and Cubs and nine combined in his other six starts -- a point which wasn’t lost on him. All in all, McCullers has a 6.61 ERA in 32 2/3 innings this season after missing the previous 2 1/2 years following major arm surgery.

“The NL Central is kind of like my daddy right now -- the Cincy start [May 10] and now the Cubs start,” he said. “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. I face the Dodgers next [in Los Angeles] and just gotta keep chugging, gotta keep pushing.”

Astros starting pitchers had given up two earned runs or fewer in 14 of the team’s previous 16 games, posting a 2.85 ERA in that span, including nine consecutive home games of two earned runs or fewer.

As was the case in his start against the Reds, McCullers nearly let the game get away from him in the first inning when he walked three consecutive batters with two outs, including Michael Busch with the bases loaded. He threw 12 consecutive balls at one point and battled control with his slider throughout the game.

He recovered, though, to retire Nico Hoerner to end the inning, starting a stretch in which he set down eight in a row before the Cubs tagged him for seven runs in the fourth inning. McCullers threw 79 pitches (41 strikes, 38 balls) and generated four whiffs from 26 swings.

“He got the first out in the first and then a few walks hurt him,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I thought, for the most part, he had enough in the tank to get out of that fourth inning.”

McCullers said his sliding catch and fall on the wet infield dirt after fielding a flip from first baseman Christian Walker to get Seiya Suzuki at first base for the second out had no bearing on how the rest of the inning unfolded. He threw only 24 pitches in the second and third innings before the disastrous fourth.

Busch and Hoerner hit back-to-back homers in the Crawford Boxes in the fourth -- Busch’s would have been a homer in one park and Hoerner’s in 13 parks, according to Statcast. Tucker crushed a slider into the right-field seats to make it 7-2, and McCullers was lifted after giving up a triple to Suzuki, who scored on a sac fly.

“I was feeling really good and felt like I was in a groove,” McCullers said. “Man, the park is the park -- the two in the Crawford Boxes and gave up a couple of hits and Tucker got me. Suzuki got me for a triple. The floodgates opened a little on me.

“I felt like the pitches to Hoerner and Busch were good pitches. They both put pretty good swings on them. It’s part of the game. ... It was, I don’t know, one of those days.”