Astros: Tony Sipp to the DL and James Hoyt is up

Tony Sipp is going to the 10-day DL, but don’t think this is the last time in an Astros uniform.

On Monday night, we saw Chris Devenski come in to face four straight left-handed hitters. This was interesting because the Astros did have the lead. They did not trust Tony Sipp to come in and face the two hitters, or so we thought. While it’s not breaking news now, it was surprising news yesterday before the game. According to Chandler Rome, Sipp was placed on the 10-day DL with right oblique soreness.

It is coincidental that the Astros have lost the last two games since the Sipp news broke. It just so happened that Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers had trouble pitching with the frigid temperatures in Minnesota. They must have learned of Sipp’s injury during Monday’s game, which could be why they used Devenski.

What’s Sipp’s future?

There are $6 million reasons why the Astros wanted Sipp to be successful this year. First of all, he is an experienced left-handed reliever. While they have other options, they apparently don’t feel confident in them yet. They brought up right-hander James Hoyt, who has had some success versus left-handed hitters. It’s not the first time that the Astros have been without a lefty-reliever, but you have to wonder what the future holds for Sipp.

Via Brian McTaggart, A.J. Hinch does not anticipate him being out for longer than the ten-days, backdated to Sunday. This is not goodbye for Sipp, just an instance where he was not right and they couldn’t wait for him. So far this year, only two games, Sipp has pitched 2 1/3 innings with a 3.86 ERA and two strikeouts. While he has not been dominant, he has not really stunk as he has the past two years.

Next: Astros: Yuli Gurriel expected to be in Friday’s lineup

Hoyt did pitch in today’s loss to the Twins. He had some excitement, only pitching 1/3 of an inning while allowing a walk and a hit. Hoyt did get the final out in relief of McCullers in the fourth inning after Max Kepler‘s first homer. But then, Devenski had to come into relieve him in the fifth inning. Devenski stranded both runners.

***Stats from Baseball-Reference***