Entering Friday, the Astros only trailed the Twins by fWAR as the most valuable bullpen in baseball through the season’s first forty-something games. This relief staff has been quite excellent to start the season, striking out 26.5% of opposing hitters along with posting the second-lowest ERA (2.78) and FIP (3.17) in baseball. Walks are an occasional issue, but that rate (9.6%) is roughly middle of the pack. There isn’t too much to complain about with this group.
Alas, even the best bullpens will blow a game every once in a while. That is baseball. You can only hope those blown games don’t occur against a divisional opponent in what is shaping up to be a contested AL West race…
Never mind.
Joe Espada’s decision to remove Bryan King in favor of Bryan Abreu to face Julio Rodríguez with a runner on base was the turning point. Yes, King only threw ten pitches, picking up two outs while allowing a hit. Of course, Rodríguez is a right-handed hitter who can hit left-handers well and the lefty King has had more success against same-handed hitters. The matchup didn’t favor King, hence the decision to turn to Abreu, who had only allowed one extra-base hit to a right-handed hitter all season.
He’s now given up three on the season.
Following Rodríguez’s RBI double to tie the game (3-3) and Cal Raleigh’s two-run home run to give the Mariners the lead (5-3), the Astros couldn’t mount another comeback. Isaac Paredes, the main driver of Houston’s lineup lately, only had one home run in him tonight, driving in two in the third inning. Yes, there was traffic on the basepaths with 11 hits, but they couldn’t convert when it mattered most of the time against Emerson Hancock, Matt Brash, Carlos Vargas, and Andrés Muñoz.
Ryan Gusto wasn’t spectacular, but he did enough to keep the Astros in the ballgame, allowing two runs (a pair of solo home runs) in 4 1⁄3 innings. Although he struck out six, the right-hander only had five whiffs on 34 swings, while walking three. The remainder of the bullpen — Josh Hader, Bennett Sousa, and Shawn Dubin — threw a scoreless 2 1⁄3 innings.
One highlight worth pointing out: Jose Altuve throwing out Raleigh in the top of the sixth on a send that was, well, highly questionable.
Altuve with the 85.5 mph strike to home plate pic.twitter.com/2ar9uRjXed
— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) May 24, 2025
The Astros will send Framber Valdez to start Game 3 of this four-game set, and the Mariners will counter with Bryan Woo.