<\/p>\n
Mike Burrows’ place in the Astros’ rotation still doesn’t seem permanent, but Wednesday in Toronto he showed the form that’s been fleeting during his first season in Houston.<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Houston Astros’ Isaac Paredes (15) hits an RBI double against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Houston Astros pitcher Mike Burrows (50) works against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz (21) congratulated Astros pitcher Mike Burrows (50) after Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined out to end sixth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage (39) eyes Houston Astros pitcher Mike Burrows (50) during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage (39) works against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage (39) reacts during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Toronto Blue Jays’ Nathan Lukes (38) celebrates in the dug out after hitting a solo home run against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena (3) hits a RBI single off Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Mason Fluharty during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Houston Astros Raynel Delgado (29) hits a sacrifice bunt in front of Toronto Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk (30) to put Astros Brice Matthews on second during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
Houston Astros pitcher Mike Burrows (50) and first baseman Isaac Paredes (15) cover first base as Toronto Blue Jays Kazuma Okamoto grounds out during fourth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press via AP)<\/p>\n
Chris Young\/Associated Press<\/p>\n
TORONTO\u00a0\u2014 A detour to the bullpen<\/a> doubled for Mike Burrows as a possible demarcation. Burrows made one relief outing last Friday, working a scoreless ninth inning in a lopsided win<\/a>, late in a first half that fell short of expectations<\/a> for both the right-hander and the team that traded for him. He rejoined its rotation Wednesday at the numerical onset of the second half, two entwined parties seeking a turnaround.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was a good reset just to fire some out of the bullpen and feel good,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cGot to close a game for the first time in professional baseball, which was cool, so check something off the list \u2026 Use it as a reset and just come back today and get after it.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Houston Astros<\/a> manager Joe Espada termed the bullpen stint a \u201cbreather\u201d for Burrows, it hardly affirmed his hold on a rotation spot amid his trials. Burrows had a 5.86 ERA that ranked highest among qualified major-league starters when Houston made the temporary move. In saying that Burrows would slot back into the rotation in Toronto, then, Espada offered only that \u201cwe\u2019ll see where it takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Astros are carrying six starters in a stretch of 13 games with no off day. Hunter Brown returned<\/a> last week and\u00a0Cristian Javier\u2019s arrival<\/a> appears close. Before the Astros\u2019 3-1 win Wednesday<\/a>, Espada deemed Javier a \u201cpossibility\u201d to start this weekend in Detroit but said that the club was \u201cnot ready to make that announcement yet.\u201d If Javier is activated, a rotation spot would need to be cleared for him.<\/p>\n One route could be shifting Kai-Wei Teng<\/a> back to a bullpen role, flexibility his relief experience provides. Burrows\u2019 situation creates a broader conundrum. The Astros consider him a long-term piece of their rotation, and are working with him to try to create better results, yet occupy a standing at 39-43 that requires the latter. Only by producing them may Burrows really reinforce his current role.<\/p>\n His outing Wednesday, then, was encouraging. Burrows allowed two hits across six innings of one-run ball against the Toronto Blue Jays, helping Houston secure a series win with one of his most effective starts of the season. Under what level of scrutiny it occurred is unclear, but the timing solely from his team\u2019s perspective lent it heft.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI thought he threw the ball extremely well,\u201d Espada said. \u201cAnd he delivered on a night that we really needed him to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither of the Astros\u2019 previous two starters had made it through five innings against Toronto\u2019s lineup. Brown labored for three innings Monday<\/a> while his pitch count ballooned. Peter Lambert lasted 4 \u2154 innings Tuesday<\/a>. Astros relievers covered 11 \u2153 innings over two days, putting an onus on Burrows to provide length against an offense that foiled his rotation-mates\u2019 attempts.<\/p>\n \u201cThey fouled off a lot of pitches, just worked counts pretty decently,\u201d Lambert said Tuesday night. \u201cI was kind of spraying the ball a little bit today, so part of that is on me. But credit to them\u00a0\u2014 they put together some pretty good at-bats.\u201d<\/p>\n BATTERS Team Totals Wade Alvarez Delgado Pe\u00f1a Correa Trammell Allen Paredes Diaz Shewmake Loperfido Altuve Walker Harris Smith V\u00e1zquez Meyers Matthews Dezenzo Price Cole Johnson Whitcomb Salazar ___<\/p>\n PITCHERS Team Totals Santa Hader Brown VanWey Okert King Arrighetti Lambert Blubaugh Pearson Teng De Los Santos Roa Bolton Burrows Imai Abreu McCullers Murray Weiss France Sousa Salazar Alexander Gordon Javier Mu\u00f1oz Burrows navigated six innings against them on 93 pitches. His second batter, Nathan Lukes, pulled a 3-1 fastball for a home run, an inauspicious early swing. It was the 19th\u00a0home run allowed by Burrows this season and the 12th\u00a0on his four-seamer. From there, Burrows retired 17 of his final 19 batters, with the exceptions a walk and a fourth-inning single by Daulton Varsho.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A focus of Burrows\u2019 recent work has been raising his arm angle, which was down 9 degrees on average from last season entering Wednesday, per Baseball Savant. That is thought to have affected the action, and thereby the effectiveness, of some of his pitches. Burrows said last week his \u201cbiggest indicators\u201d of whether the arm angle is in a good spot are his four-seamer and curveball.<\/p>\n Wednesday, Burrows threw 25\u00a0four-seamers on 93 pitches. Their average vertical drop was on par with his previous season average, per Statcast, though Espada noted it appeared Burrows \u201cwas getting that hop that we\u2019ve seen in the past.\u201d The Blue Jays swung at 10 four-seamers and put four into play, all with exit velocities above 95 mph, though Lukes\u2019 home run was the lone hit.<\/p>\n Burrows averaged an additional 3 inches of drop on the 12\u00a0curveballs he threw, per Statcast. He also leaned more on his slider against a lineup with six right-handed hitters. While Burrows generated just seven whiffs on 45 swings, the slider created a 53% chase rate and the curveball a 40% chase rate. The Blue Jays averaged an 84.2 mph exit velocity overall on 17 batted balls in play against him.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the fastball (performed better), but I think everything\u00a0\u2014 I think the curveball was much better, I think the slider was better,\u201d Burrows said.<\/p>\n Espada observed that Burrows\u2019 \u201cchangeup today was not quite as sharp, but because of the fastball and the curveball, he was able to establish both sides of the plate and get some big outs for us.\u201d The Blue Jays did not take an at-bat with a runner in scoring position against Burrows, who said he operated \u201cjust trusting the work that we\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cGo out there and execute,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be locking yourself up with things you\u2019ve been working on. So just let the work play.\u201d<\/p>\n Trey Yesavage taming the Astros\u2019 lineup after Isaac Paredes\u2019 run-scoring single in the first inning required sharpness from Burrows. The right-handers traded zeroes after the first. Yesavage finished one out shy of a quality start. Burrows authored one, just the fourth in his 15 starts this season, in perhaps a promising return from a reset.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re out there competing and everything\u2019s just moving right,\u201d Burrows said. \u201cYeah, it was good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Burrows’ place in the Astros’ rotation still doesn’t seem permanent, but Wednesday in Toronto he showed the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-349659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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