Astros notes: Verlander shines, Guduan suspended, Peacock rehabs

Astros sweep Mariners as Justin Verlander reaches another milestone. Meanwhile, Reymin Guduan gets suspended and Brad Peacock begins his rehab assignment.

It was an eventful last few days for the Houston Astros, including the ceremonies that took place for the inaugural Hall of Fame Weekend. They completed the sweep of the Seattle Mariners for the third time this season, capping it off with Verlander reaching 200 strikeouts in the series finale.

This is the ninth season Verlander has surpassed 200 strikeouts in his career. Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Tom Seaver, and Bob Gibson are the only other pitchers in MLB history that have accomplished the same achievement. Quite an impressive list of names to be associated with.

Verlander now leads the league in wins with 15 and also possesses the best ERA (2.68) and WHIP (0.812) in the league. He seems to keep a small edge over Gerrit Cole in the race for the Cy Young Award. Coincidentally, Cole is the only other pitcher in the Major Leagues with over 200 strikeouts on the season.

In other pitching news, Brad Peacock has begun his rehab assignment with the Round Rock Express, Houston’s AAA affiliate. It was the first live game action he has seen since his last rehab game on July 10th before suffering a setback. The last time Peacock has pitched for the Astros was back on June 27th.

His first time out was a little rocky giving up five runs on five hits and two walks in 1.1 innings of work. The good news was he seemed to feel fine following the outing.  “He felt good physically, he just said he had no idea where the ball was going,” manager A.J. Hinch said Sunday. “Rough line by the look of it, but just getting him into a game and getting the report that he felt physically good was a good sign.”

With Aaron Sanchez recently added to the Astros starting rotation and how well he pitched in his debut, Houston is apt to have Peacock pitch out of the bullpen once he returns to the team. “The goal is for him to come back as soon as possible, which would make the reliever option a little bit more feasible,” Hinch said. “We don’t really have a spot in our rotation open. We think he can be a valuable reliever.”

A final note on Houston’s pitching staff is the news that Reymin Guduan has been suspended for the remainder of the season. Jeff Luhnow wouldn’t go into details, he just stated that he broke team rules while at Round Rock and is suspended for a “disciplinary issue”.

Guduan will stay on the 40-man roster for the rest of the season. But with the suspension and the 11.81 ERA he accumulated in his seven appearances with the Astros, I would be surprised if he’s tendered a contract for the 2020 season.