Houston Astros turn to Cristian Javier to start series finale vs. Philadelphia Phillies

PHILADELPHIA – Cristian Javier will start Thursday’s series finale for the Houston Astros against the Phillies, manager Joe Espada said, tasked with sustaining a recent upturn by an embattled rotation.

On Aug. 28, Hunter Brown snapped a run of 14 games in which no Astros starter completed six innings. That began an 11-game stretch, entering Wednesday, in which Houston’s starters compiled a 2.56 ERA over 56 ⅓ innings, fourth-lowest in the majors in that span.

Starters threw at least six innings in five of those 11 games – with Brown and Hayden Wesneski each doing so twice and Peter Lambert once – offering a relative breather to a beleaguered Astros bullpen. Brown was slated to start Wednesday night in Philadelphia.

Javier allowed one run in five innings in his last start against Arizona, but neither he nor rookie Ethan Pecko has worked deep into games of late.

Reliability from the rotation would be a welcome element for Houston in the final weeks of a playoff race. For the season, the Astros entered Wednesday with the third-highest rotation ERA (4.94) and the seventh-fewest starter innings in the majors.

Wesneski and Brown threw back-to-back quality starts Sept. 2 and 3, the first time Astros starters had done that in a month. Lambert and Wesneski, then, did that again Sept. 6 and 8. Wesneski has four quality starts in eight outings since his return from elbow surgery.

“It’s pushing time, it’s time to go,” Wesneski said Tuesday night. “So I go off of Pete, Hunter goes off me, we roll down the line. It’s really important games and guys feel it and it makes it simple: Hey we need to win, that’s it, it’s simple as that.”

The Astros entered Wednesday with a two-game AL West lead over the Rangers, plus the tiebreaker against Texas, and 17 games left in their regular season. They have yet to announce their rotation for their upcoming series against the AL East-leading Rays.

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This article originally published at Houston Astros turn to Cristian Javier to start series finale vs. Philadelphia Phillies.