HOUSTON -- On a day the Astros lost starting pitcher Ronel Blanco to an elbow injury that will require Tommy John surgery and will cost him the rest of the 2025 season, they celebrated a breakthrough performance from starter Lance McCullers Jr. on Wednesday afternoon.
McCullers, making his fifth start since missing nearly 2 1/2 years following surgery to repair a right flexor tendon injury, delivered his best start since 2022 by striking out a career-high-tying 12 batters in six innings as the Astros won their fourth game in a row, 5-3, over the A’s at Daikin Park.
“He’s been around and he knows how important it is for him to get performances like this,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I expect it from now on, to be that guy where he wants that leadership role back and he wants to be in a moment where we lean on him to get big outs for us. Him being able to do that, take us deep in the game was very important today.”
The Astros scored three times in the seventh inning against reliever Justin Sterner to win their eighth consecutive home series. Zach Dezenzo tied the game with a long homer to left-center, and catcher Victor Caratini shot a two-run single up the middle with the bases loaded and two outs. Houston’s bullpen shut the door from there, with Josh Hader picking up his 14th save in 14 tries.
“We’re getting great contributions from everybody, top to bottom,” Dezenzo said.
McCullers allowed three runs on five hits and one walk and struck out two batters in each of his six innings, giving him a dozen strikeouts for the second time in his career (July 6, 2018, vs. White Sox). It was his 15th career game with at least 10 strikeouts, which is the eight-most in Astros history.
“I felt really good,” McCullers said. “I told Joe I was thankful he gave me the opportunity to go back out there. I just wanted to get in the zone and fill it up and force the action there in the sixth. … I gave the boys a chance to win and the offense did their thing there in the seventh.”
The six innings marked McCullers’ longest outing since he went six in his final start of the 2022 regular season, which came Oct. 3 against the Phillies. He last topped 100 pitches on Sept. 21, 2022, at the Rays (also 102 pitches).
“The first couple of games felt like I was kind of climbing, I was getting there,” McCullers said. “These last two games, I felt much better. I still could do some small things a little better. … There’s always things to work on, but I was very happy overall and pleased with the effort and I thought Vic did a fantastic job back there behind the plate, which he always does.”
McCullers relied mostly on his slider (41 pitches), sinker (24 pitches) and curveball (22 pitches), which he threw mostly to lefties. He generated 10 of his 18 whiffs on the curveball and recorded half of his strikeouts on the pitch. He had three strikeouts on the slider, two on the sinker and one on the four-seam fastball.
“Sometimes you give credit where credit’s due, and I think McCullers had his best breaking ball today,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “Obviously, he used it a ton, and we couldn’t figure it out."
McCullers was relying on his sinker to get swing-and-miss early, but had to adjust his approach in the middle innings, with Caratini guiding him along the way. The breaking pitches are what stood out to the catcher, though.
“His slider and curveball were dominating,” Caratini said. “Every outing he goes out there, he gets better and better. I’m very happy for him right now.”
McCullers has come a long way from his May 10 start in which he gave up seven runs while recording one out against the Reds. The best may be yet to come, but the Astros will take what McCullers gave them on Wednesday every time out.
“After my first surgery [after the 2018 season], I was a different pitcher and I had success, and after this surgery I’m going to be a different pitcher and I’m going to continue to find success,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll throw 97, 98 again, but you never know. Some things just take time.”