Astros: Alvarez homers, Guduan optioned & McCullers on 60-day IL

A busy day for the Astros! Lance McCullers goes on the 60-day IL and Reymin Guduan is optioned, making room for Yordan Alvarez, who homers in his second AB.

The Houston Astros needed to make room for their newest member, Yordan Alvarez. Reymin Guduan was the odd man out this time, getting optioned back down to the Minors to create a spot on the 25-man roster. Since Guduan is still on the 40-man roster, McCullers was placed on the 60-day Injured List to make room for Alvarez. A lot of shuffling.

But Alvarez didn’t waste much time showing that it was all worthwhile. He steps up to the plate in the 4th inning for his second Major League at-bat and crushes the ball 411 ft. to deep left center for a two-run shot in his much-anticipated debut. But prior to the game, for all this to happen, some personnel changes needed to take place.

Guduan has had a rough time of it since he’s been recalled. In his second stint with the club this year, he gave up five runs in the three games and 1.2 innings of work, jacking up his ERA to a lofty 14.54. With the two days off in the upcoming schedule, the Astros must have felt they could go with one man down in the bullpen.

On the bright side, the pen had a better showing today than they’ve had in recent games. Wade Miley got into trouble in the 7th loading the bases with nobody out. Ryan Pressly proceeds to come in and get the next three batters out in 1-2-3 fashion, no harm done.

Hector Rondon followed that with a three-up, three-down 8th. Then, Josh James takes the 9th and walked two, after getting the first two batters out, but Roberto Osuna finishes out the game with the final out and the Astros complete a combined shutout over the Orioles 4-0.

As I stated yesterday, it’s a ton of pressure for a young player to step up to the plate for the first time, especially in front of a home crowd with huge expectations. But apparently, not to Alvarez, he just kept on doing what he’s been doing, causing damage to opposing pitchers. It’s going to be a fun ride ahead watching this young phenom.