Mike Burrows will slot back into the Houston Astros‘ starting rotation during their upcoming series in Toronto after a brief detour to the bullpen.
Hunter Brown is slated to start Monday’s opener against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, followed by Peter Lambert and Burrows, the Astros said. Brown and Lambert will both start on five days’ rest.
Plugging Burrows back into the rotation as a sixth starter would allow the Astros to also keep Tatsuya Imai, Spencer Arrighetti and Kai-Wei Teng on five days’ rest for their next starts. Houston just began a stretch of 13 games with no off day Friday.
Burrows, shifted to the bullpen during this weekend’s series against the Guardians, threw a scoreless inning in Friday’s opener. Manager Joe Espada indicated Sunday morning that Burrows’ role beyond a start in Toronto remains somewhat unsettled.
“Hopefully this break … will help him kind of get a little blow,” Espada said. “And then we’ll see where it takes us. That’s a pretty good Toronto offense and we feel like he’s in a good spot. So one day at a time.”
Burrows has a 5.79 ERA this season while leading the Astros in starts (14) and innings pitched (79 ⅓). That innings number is already more than halfway toward Burrows’ total of 128 ⅓ last season, which was one reason Houston cited for skipping his previous turn.
Burrows said the bullpen stint would also be a chance to “work on some stuff,” including an attempt to raise his arm angle, which is 9 degrees lower on average than last season, per Baseball Savant, altering the traits — and ostensibly the effectiveness — of some of his pitches.
If the Astros stay in their current six-man rotation, the spot Burrows fills Wednesday will come up once more during their 13-game stretch, in the middle of a home series against the Twins.