Astros: Zack Greinke offers fix to the bullpen

The flurry of injuries continues to roam over the Houston Astros‘ pitching staff. Before their final game with the San Diego Padres, the organization placed Bryan Abreu on the injured list (calf) and recalled Enoli Paredes. As the bullpen went dry on Saturday, the Astros also recalled Nivaldo Rodriguez and optioned Brandon Bielak for more possible options of throwing.

These moves didn’t matter in the end, as the offense ran up seven runs on five hits through three innings of Blake Snell. This type of run support has been more common as of late, but everyone knows the recent scuffs from the bullpen.

While the Astros were scoring, Zack Greinke was dealing.

The Astros’ ace in Zack Greinke entered Sunday with sub-par numbers on the mound at home this season, but over eight innings of work, the right-hander changed the narrative. Greinke surrendered one run on six hits and four walks, while fanning four batters.

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While over half of the bullpen was drained the night before, Greinke should be praised by his fellow teammates and pitchers for just doing his job. Injuries and lack of high-leverage arms continue to be a sore for the Astros, but Greinke put the team in the perfect spot with his run support behind him.

Joe Musgrove did relieve Snell, and while only allowing one base runner over five innings, the former Astros pitcher was untouchable by his friends. This didn’t matter in the end, but Andre Scrubb continued his command struggles.

While the bullpen only saw one inning, Scrubb allowed three runs on two home runs. The right-hander had the tying run waiting on deck, but closed the game out behind two big strikeouts. Even though Greinke gave the bullpen the perfect set up, Scrubb almost blew it.

The Astros are back on the field to open a four-game series with the Boston Red Sox at 3:10 p.m. at Minute Maid Park. Right-handed pitcher Jose Urquidy will be returning from the injured list on Monday to start against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, but there hasn’t been a corresponding move reported just yet.

Yordan Alvarez (wrist) and Yuli Gurriel (finger) were still out of the lineup on Sunday, but for Alvarez, he took batting practice pre-game. In Gurriel’s case, manager Dusty Baker showed his displeasure of how the injury occurred with Loss Angeles Dodgers’ Max Muncy dropping his knee on it.