{"id":355387,"date":"2026-06-30T05:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/355387\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T05:46:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:46:32","slug":"houston-astros-rookie-reliever-miguel-ullola-makes-strong-impression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/355387\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Astros rookie reliever Miguel Ullola makes strong impression"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of the Houston Astros wears a pink cowboy hat before his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Houston Astros\/Getty Images\"Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of the Houston Astros pitches in the eighth inning of his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of the Houston Astros pitches in the eighth inning of his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Victor\u00a0Caratini<\/p>\n

Victor\u00a0Caratini (37) of the Minnesota Twins is congratulated by third base coach Ramon Borrego\u00a0after a home run in the fourth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Cam<\/p>\n

Cam Smith of the Houston Astros is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a home run in the fifth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Royce<\/p>\n

Royce Lewis of the Minnesota Twins reacts after a home run in the fourth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Allen of the Houston Astros forces Tristan Gray of the Minnesota Twins out at second and throws to first in the third inning at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter Lambert of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Tim Warner\/Getty Images\"Joey\u00a0Loperfido\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Joey\u00a0Loperfido\u00a0of the Houston Astros makes a leaping catch at the left field wall in the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Houston Astros\/Getty Images\"Victor\u00a0Caratini\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Victor\u00a0Caratini\u00a0of the Houston Astros is congratulated by teammates after hitting a solo home run in the fifth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Houston Astros\/Getty Images\"Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of the Houston Astros wears a pink cowboy hat before his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Houston Astros\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

When Miguel Ullola<\/a> strolled to the bullpen for his first big-league game at Daikin Park on Monday night, the Houston Astros rookie had a huge grin on his face, which almost has to be standard when you\u2019re making the walk wearing a pink backpack with a matching pink cowboy hat on your head.<\/p>\n

Hours after enduring his rookie hazing ritual, Ullola\u00a0\u2014 pronounced\u00a0oo-YOH-lah\u00a0\u2014\u00a0had a similar wide smile, revealing the braces still on his teeth, but this grin came only after a triumphant yell.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old right-hander, who was called up from Triple-A Sugar Land on Sunday, made his Major League Baseball debut in spectacular fashion, throwing two scoreless innings and striking out four in the\u00a0Astros’ 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Ullola announced his presence with authority striking out the very first batter he faced, getting Royce Lewis to swing at a 95.9 mph fastball that was elevated just above the zone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very proud of myself about getting the strikeout,\u201d Ullola said through an interpreter. \u201cI just trusted (catcher Christian) Vasquez and the fact that he\u2019s a veteran, so I just trusted Vazquy to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He retired Victor\u00a0Caratini on a weak ground out, then got Ryan Kriedler on a foul tip strikeout with a slider.<\/p>\n

The second inning was a bit more adventurous with the Twins putting two on with a couple singles, including a blooper that had an exit velocity of just 67.7 mph. Still, Ullola didn\u2019t get rattled with runners on the corners and just one out, striking out Brooks Lee and Kody Clemens to end the top of the ninth.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI actually like his second\u00a0inning better than his first one\u00a0because he got traffic, and he continued to pound the zone,\u201d Astros manager Joe Espada said. \u201cHe held the ball well, there were\u00a0 some baserunners, some traffic and he continued to attack. Threw the fastball, threw some really good sliders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of<\/p>\n

Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of the Houston Astros reacts during the ninth inning of his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at Daikin Park on June 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas.<\/p>\n

Houston Astros\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

That slider proved particularly nasty against Clemens for the final out of the ninth.\u00a0Ullola threw the former Memorial High School and University of Texas star six straight fastballs, the last three of which Clemens fouled off, before he got him to whiff at the slider, prompting Ullola to hop off the mound and give a shout up to the ballpark\u2019s closed roof.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he\u2019s there and that ball takes the same tunnel as the fastball, it\u2019s a\u00a0 really tough pitch to hit,\u201d Espada said.<\/p>\n

When he was signed from the Dominican Republic at 18 years old, Ullola was brought up through the minors as a\u00a0starting pitcher and remained that way until the Astros moved him to the bullpen just last month. Of his 10 relief appearances for Sugar Land, only one lasted more than one inning, but Ullola said he had no concerns about throwing a second inning in his big-league debut.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI felt the same as always, normal,\u201d Ullola said. \u201cMy mentality never changed, I was just out there trying to attack hitters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ullola, who is ranked as the Astros’ No. 11 overall prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline, threw just two pitches\u00a0\u2014 his fastball that creates the illusion or rising\u00a0much like that of Cristian Javier<\/a> and a nasty slider\u00a0\u2014 but that could be all he needs in his new turn as a\u00a0reliever.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou saw the swings and misses on the fastballs and a ton of foul balls back where they were underneath it,\u201d Espada said. \u201cThat\u2019s a big weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Astros’ clubhouse wasn\u2019t as lively as it would have been after a comeback win, but Ullola, with his pink cowboy hat still hanging in his locker, couldn’t conceal the smile still plastered on his face.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI feel great,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miguel\u00a0Ullola\u00a0of the Houston Astros wears a pink cowboy hat before his MLB debut against the Minnesota Twins at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-355387","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\/355387","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=355387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}