Houston's Crumbling and Seattle Just Keeps Beating Them
The Houston Astros are falling apart in front of our eyes, and the Seattle Mariners are making them pay for it. On Monday, the Astros placed shortstop Jeremy Pena and starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai on the injury list, the latest casualties in what has become a nightmare stretch for the reeling team.
Pena is dealing with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain after his knee tightened up during Friday's loss to Seattle. He tried to gut it out Saturday but had to exit in the fourth inning. Imaging on Sunday confirmed the damage. The guy is batting .256 with five runs scored so far this season, a massive drop from last year when he made his first All-Star team and hit .304 with 17 home runs, 62 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, and an .840 OPS across 125 games.
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Imai's situation tells you everything about how bad things are in Houston right now. He felt fatigued after throwing just 37 pitches in Friday's start against Seattle where he got one out. One out. He came back to Houston Saturday for team doctors to check him out, and now he is on the shelf because of arm fatigue.
But Imai is just the latest domino to fall. The Astros placed right-handers Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier on the injured list last week with shoulder strains. Then on Sunday, starter Cody Bolton left the game in the second inning because of mid-back tightness. This is a rotation that is completely decimated after a brutal 10-game road trip.
The Numbers Tell the Story
How bad is it? The Astros are 1-8 on this trip heading into Monday's series finale with the Mariners. One win in eight games. And guess who has been beating them? We have. Seattle notched a win Monday, making it three straight victories over Houston in this series.
The Mariners are rolling right now, and the Astros are stuck in quicksand. Houston has got to figure out how to get healthy fast because this injury list keeps growing and their record keeps getting worse.
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