Teng started the season in the Astros’ bullpen and joined their rotation in mid-May. He has thrown 64 innings. Last season, Teng pitched 86 ⅔ innings between Triple-A and the majors with the Giants. He totaled 90 innings between those levels in 2024.
Astros manager Joe Espada said the purpose of sending Teng down to Triple-A is for a “de-load … take some of the workload off and put him in a schedule where we can kind of give him a breather and get him back going again.”
“His stuff has been down a bit, especially he showed that yesterday, so I think this will benefit him,” Espada said Sunday at Comerica Park.
Saturday, Teng’s average four-seam fastball velocity was down 1.8 mph from his previous season mean and his sweeper velocity down 2 mph. Teng posted a 2.57 ERA over his first 42 innings this season, then a 7.77 ERA across his past five starts.
“Compared to the start of the season, I would say there’s definitely some fatigue and tiredness,” Teng said through an interpreter after the Astros’ 8-6 win Saturday. “The past two seasons, I only pitched like 70 or 80 innings a year at the most, and this year it’s only like halfway up the season and I’m already reaching the count of innings. So I would say there is some fatigue, but it’s still manageable.”
Espada said the Astros will sit down with Teng in the next couple of days to set his pitching schedule at Triple-A, including whether he will work as a starter or reliever there.
“Part of the de-load is still pitching him, less pitches, less innings,” Espada said. “We’ve got to kind of figure out how’s that going to work so next time we bring him up he’ll still be in a position to work out of the pen or as a starter.”
Teng, acquired from the Giants in an offseason trade, was a source of stability for the Astros in both the bullpen and rotation in the early part of the season. The right-hander has a 1.80 ERA in 13 relief outings that comprised 20 innings.
Ullola, who is seeking his major-league debut, joins the Astros bullpen after transitioning from a starter to a relief role at Triple-A Sugar Land last month. Espada said the right-hander will be an option to work multiple innings. Astros relievers had covered 27 ⅔ innings over their last six games through Saturday.
“We’re excited about his progress,” Espada said of Ullola. “He’s throwing a ton more strikes, his stuff we know has always been really good. Excited to see the young man up here. I know how hard he’s worked the last couple of years.”