{"id":364972,"date":"2026-07-08T05:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T05:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/364972\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T05:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T05:28:12","slug":"houston-astros-teammates-follow-steven-okert-with-bullpen-cart-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/364972\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Astros teammates follow Steven Okert with bullpen cart ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Steven<\/p>\n

Steven Okert’s relief stint Tuesday in Washington was preceded by a ride in the bullpen cart to the mound at Nationals Park, which has become a tradition for him.<\/p>\n

Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai throws during the third inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros third baseman Isaac Paredes throws to first base for an out on a ball hit by Washington Nationals’ Jacob Young during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros’ Christian Walker (8) is greeted in the dugout after scoring a run on a sacrifice fly hit by Nick Allen (20) hit off Washington Nationals pitcher Andrew Alvarez during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros players greet each other after defeating the Washington Nationals in a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros pitcher Josh Hader throws during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros pitcher Alimber Santa walks off the field after manager Joe Espada removed him during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros pitcher Alimber Santa throws during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Washington<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals’ Nasim Nu\u00f1ez is tagged on by Houston Astros shortstop Nick Allen while attempting to steal second base during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve (27) celebrates his home run with Isaac Paredes (15) off Washington Nationals pitcher Riley Cornelio during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve hits a home run off Washington Nationals pitcher Riley Cornelio during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros pitcher Bryan King throws during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros’ Isaac Paredes runs after hitting a single off Washington Nationals pitcher Matt Krook during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros’ Zach Dezenzo scores a run on a ball hit by Christian V\u00e1zquez off Washington Nationals pitcher Andrew Alvarez during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Houston<\/p>\n

Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Washington<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals shortstop Nasim Nu\u00f1ez throws to first base on a infield single hit by Houston Astros’ Brice Matthews hit off pitcher Andrew Alvarez during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Washington<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals pitcher Andrew Alvarez throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Washington<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals’ James Wood hits a home run off Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Washington<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals’ James Wood, left, is greeted by third base coach Victor Estevez (7) after hitting a home run off Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press\"Washington<\/p>\n

Washington Nationals’ Luis Garc\u00eda Jr. hits a single off Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai during the third inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Terrance Williams)<\/p>\n

Terrance Williams\/Associated Press<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014 At a critical moment Tuesday, manager Joe Espada emerged from the visitors\u2019 dugout at Nationals Park and signaled to his bullpen. Steven Okert stepped through the bullpen door\u00a0\u2014 and into his waiting ride.<\/p>\n

Shaped like a baseball with a batting helmet for a roof, the Nationals’ bullpen cart offers to convey relief pitchers of the home and visiting teams alike to the infield area as they enter a game. Many opt instead for the traditional jog across the outfield to the pitcher\u2019s mound.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Joe today,\u201d Okert said, \u201c \u2018Just so you know, I\u2019m going to be in the cart when I come in.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

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Taking the cart is a custom for\u00a0Okert, the Houston Astros<\/a> left-hander, when at Nationals Park. Two years ago, with the Twins, Okert rode the cart in for an outing and tipped his driver with a $5 bill. What is not typical, he said, was what happened after his entrance Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been trying for four years now to get teammates to take it, and I\u2019ve had one teammate in the past take it,\u201d Okert said. \u201cSo I couldn\u2019t believe all of them did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Five more Astros relievers followed Okert into Tuesday\u2019s game. Four climbed into the cart and repeated the ride along the warning track to the infield area near the Astros dugout, all before contributing to an essential relief effort.<\/p>\n

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After starter Tatsuya Imai lasted 3 \u2154 innings, six Houston relievers combined to work 5 \u2153 innings of one-run ball in a 6-3 win over the Nationals<\/a>. All arrived by bullpen cart save for closer Josh Hader, who recorded the final out and the save.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started with Okert\u00a0\u2014 of course,\u201d Espada said. \u201cAnd after that, everybody started following Okert. And hey, why not? He\u2019s one of our leaders out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is also one of Espada\u2019s most trusted matchup relievers, which prompted Okert\u2019s appearance in the fourth inning Tuesday. Imai had retired its first two batters. But he then allowed a single and a walk to turn the Nationals lineup over.<\/p>\n

James Wood, the left-handed hitting slugger, had hit his 25th home run of the season off Imai in the first inning. With a 4-2 lead, Espada did not let Imai face him again. Okert drew the assignment\u00a0\u2014 arriving for it in the cart\u2019s shotgun seat.<\/p>\n

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After a shorter jog to the mound and warmup, Okert spun three consecutive sliders to Wood, who took strike one and whiffed at the next two to end the inning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big matchup, big part in the game there,\u201d Okert said. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s been crushing fastballs. Just trying to go with my strength there and stay away from him and it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okert also worked a scoreless fifth inning and ultimately earned the win. What left him \u201cproud,\u201d though, was the ensuing ride procession.<\/p>\n

Enyel De Los Santos was driven in before a scoreless sixth inning. So was Bryan King, who navigated the top of the Nationals lineup in a scoreless seventh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very surprised King took it,\u201d Okert said. \u201cSo I asked him about it and he said, \u2018Well, you guys both had a zero, so I had to take it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bryan Abreu followed their lead before blanking Washington in the eighth. So did rookie Alimber Santa, who started the ninth with a four-run lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell Abreu great job, then I asked him and he was like, \u2018Yeah I took it!\u2019 \u201d\u00a0Okert said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it. It was by far the most I\u2019ve seen in a game. It\u2019s got to be a record here.\u201d<\/p>\n

A home run by Jos\u00e9 Tena against Santa trimmed the lead to three. Espada turned to Hader with a runner on base and two outs. An infield single and a walk loaded the bases, bringing the possible winning run to the plate. Hader struck out Dylan Crews to convert his 10th\u00a0save and conclude the bullpen effort.<\/p>\n

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Afterward, Okert recalled that the first time he rode the bullpen cart in for an outing it was \u201cfreezing\u201d at Nationals Park, but \u201cevery time since then it\u2019s been hot like this, so why wouldn\u2019t you save your energy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRide it out,\u201d Okert reasoned, \u201cand have a little extra for the mound.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steven Okert’s relief stint Tuesday in Washington was preceded by a ride in the bullpen cart to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-364972","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\/364972","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=364972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}