Houston came home in a slump and the Rockies arrived to meet them. The Astros opened Tuesday’s series against Colorado after a 1-9 road trip that left them on a nine-game losing streak and searching for a workable pitching plan.
The matchup is messy on both sides. Houston lost Hunter Brown, Tatsuya Imai and Cristian Javier to injuries during the trip, and Colorado’s listed starter was still marked TBD when the series began. Colton Gordon, who is listed at 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA, was set to start for Houston in the opener.
For the Astros, the skid started with a difficult swing through Sacramento and Seattle, where they lost two of three to the Athletics before being swept by the Mariners and then swept again by the Rockies. That stretch sent them into Tuesday’s opener with little margin for error and a home crowd watching a team that has not found a clean answer on the mound.
The Rockies, meanwhile, came off a bullpen game Sunday afternoon against the San Diego Padres after Kyle Freeland was scratched, and that leaves open the possibility that both clubs could lean on relief arms again in this series. The game is also the start of a three-game set in Houston for the second week in a row between the same teams, a scheduling quirk that adds to the sense that neither side has settled into anything close to normal.
Radio coverage is scheduled on KBME 790 AM/94.5 FM HD-2 and KLTN-TUDN 102.9 FM. What matters now is less the oddity of the setup than whether Houston can find enough healthy innings to keep the trip from defining its season, because the opener suggests the Astros are still piecing together a staff while the Rockies are willing to keep the pressure on.
