Javier shows signs of rust in short return against Tigers

DETROIT -- Cristian Javier trotted out a little of everything on Saturday night at Comerica Park. He unleashed four-seamers, changeups and sliders during his first start in almost a month, and even sprinkled in a few knuckle curves.

It was a great exercise in making sure everything still worked the way it should; he just couldn’t land much for a strike.

“Command and control; it was just never there,” manager Joe Espada said after Houston’s 8-2 loss to Detroit evened the series at one game apiece. “The four walks, behind in the count, you could just tell that he just wasn't there, and just looked rusty, not sharp.”

The evaluation made sense. Javier was making his first start since April 14, and has battled neck soreness for nearly a month. Sure, he’d thrown a couple of bullpens and made one rehab appearance with Double-A Corpus Christi, but neither could replicate the adrenaline of a Major League game, according to Javier, who admitted to some pregame jitters.

“I went a very long time without being able to pitch, not being able to compete,” Javier said through team interpreter Jenloy Herrera. “That's why I was struggling. I tried to stay focused, tried to compete, tried to attack the strike zone, and I wasn't able to do that.”

The early warning signs were there -- 12 of the 20 pitches Javier needed to navigate a hitless first inning were balls -- and he walked two Tigers in the frame, but neither scored, leaving everyone to hope that the stretch was just a one-off and the powerful righty would be back to business by the second inning.

One out and seven runs later, Tayler Scott was jogging in from the bullpen and Javier’s day was done, leaving he and the Astros grateful for the return to health, but frustrated with the initial results.

“I was also battling a little bit with the strike zone [in the bullpen pregame],” Javier said. “I was hoping that I was able to make the adjustment whenever I crossed between the lines; that the adrenaline and everything that came along with that was able to make the adjustment there.”

To say that Javier had little trouble against the Tigers in the past might be an understatement. He entered with a 2-0 record against them and had allowed just two earned runs across four career games (two starts). Perhaps most impressive, Detroit had never registered an extra-base hit against him.

But Saturday was different, and when things came apart, they did so pretty quickly. Javier opened the second inning with a single, a groundout, a walk and a single to load the bases, a sequence that added another 17 pitches to his total. Up came leadoff hitter Riley Greene, who promptly drew a four-pitch walk to force home the game’s first run.

Javier had entered the contest with a 1.54 ERA and had yielded just a combined five runs (four earned) in four prior starts this season. A quick mound meeting made no difference: Three pitches later, Mark Canha cleared the bases with a grand slam.

It was not the last blow Detroit landed: With Houston’s bullpen up and moving, Javier’s next pitch resulted in a line-drive double to right off the bat of rookie Wenceel Pérez. The next batter, Kerry Carpenter, homered a few pitches later to push the Tigers’ lead to 7-0.

By the time Javier turned the ball over, he had thrown 50 pitches, 29 of which were balls.

If it looked like Javier was missing the strike zone badly, it’s because he was. A lot of his success has come from enticing batters by nibbling at the corners and then making them look silly by inducing swings at wildly out-of-zone offerings once he’s in a pitcher’s count.

Javier didn’t have the necessary stuff to establish that control in his return, though, drawing just seven first-pitch strikes in 13 tries. Many of his pitches were noncompetitive, and on a normal day, that might draw a dramatic swing-and-miss. The Tigers weren’t tempted.

“He's a guy that he kind of pitches out of the zone at times, and he gets chases, but when you miss that bad, you're not gonna get the swings that you are expecting the other team to [swing at],” Espada said.