SEATTLE — A day after recording one out in a disastrous start against the Seattle Mariners, Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai traveled back to Houston with what the team described as right arm fatigue, dealing more dreadful news to a rotation that can ill afford it.
Imai is the third member of Houston’s starting rotation to fly home during this disastrous road trip. Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier returned for imaging on their right shoulders. Each is now on the injured list with a Grade 2 shoulder strain.
Losing both of them intensified Imai’s importance to a rotation in need of stability. Houston signed Imai to a three-year, $54 million contract this offseason, which includes opt-outs after this season and next.
Imai alerted Astros officials of fatigue in his right arm following his start on Friday, manager Joe Espada said on Saturday. Asked whether the issue is in a specific area of Imai’s arm, Espada described it as “general arm fatigue.”
“Hopefully there is nothing wrong, but again, it’s not good news,” Espada said.
Espada said Imai spoke to team trainers after finishing his postgame interview on Friday night. Imai never mentioned any discomfort during the six-minute session with English-speaking reporters. Imai conducted a separate scrum in Japanese.
Houston tailored its early rotation plans to ensure Imai made each of his past two starts on five days of rest — similar to the setup Imai had while pitching as part of a six-man rotation in Japan.
Imai has a 7.27 ERA across his first three major-league starts. He failed to finish three innings in two of them, including an implosion on Friday night at T-Mobile Park. Imai threw 37 pitches, walked four batters, hit another and collected just one out.
Afterward, Imai intimated that the mound quality at T-Mobile Park impacted some of his command. The weather he pitched in “is not usual in Japan,” Imai said through an interpreter, while adding he “was not able to adjust to that.” First-pitch temperature on Friday was 64 degrees with a slight breeze and the roof open.
Imai has also mentioned his struggles gripping major-league baseballs — which are slicker than the ones used in NPB — and some reticence to throw his fastball at full efficacy.
Imai is the first pitcher signed by the Astros straight from NPB, creating a case study of sorts for both player and organization. Team officials allowed Imai to dictate much of his spring-training buildup and have maintained an open line of communication with him as the two parties learn more about the other.
Losing Imai for any length of time would further deplete a starting rotation already ravaged by injury and in the middle of a stretch of 13 consecutive games. Both Brown and Javier have no timetable for their return, other than that both will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
If Imai is sidelined, Houston could turn to depth starters like Peter Lambert, Jason Alexander or Colton Gordon to take his spot in the rotation. Spencer Arrighetti should also soon rejoin the major-league rotation at some point during the team’s upcoming homestand.