Urquidy's return, Verlander's routine bump Brown to the bullpen

HOUSTON -- The return of José Urquidy from the injured list and the trade that brought Justin Verlander back to Houston have given the Astros some depth and flexibility in their starting rotation, which is something they didn’t have for the first four months of the season after Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia and Urquidy all went down with injuries.

The Astros suddenly found themselves with six starters following the addition of Verlander, who came to Houston in a trade with the Mets, and Urquidy, who missed three months with right shoulder inflammation. Both have made two starts with the Astros this month, with Urquidy throwing 80 pitches in five innings in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Angels at Minute Maid Park.

Verlander has two strong starts with the Astros under his belt and will take the ball again in Wednesday’s series finale at Miami. He will be pitching on four days of rest, which he’s said in the past is his preference. Rookie Hunter Brown would have been slated to pitch that game, but he will instead be available in the bullpen for the Marlins series.

"When you have six starters, it makes it a little bit discombobulated,” pitching coach Josh Miller said. “We did it last year sometimes with [Cristian] Javier, Urquidy, Luis Garcia, maybe used them out of the bullpen or gave extra days in between starts towards the end of the season. I could envision us doing that going forward.”

The Astros did that earlier this month, moving rookie J.P. France to the rotation temporarily. France threw seven innings July 31 and then came on in relief of Urquidy last Sunday in New York and picked up the win with 3 1/3 innings in relief. He returned to the rotation Saturday and threw seven more innings for his seventh consecutive victory (six as a starter).

Brown, who allowed five runs in six innings in his last start Thursday in Baltimore, has thrown 123 1/3 innings this year, which is just shy of the career-high 130 innings he threw last year combined between Triple-A and the Majors, including the postseason. Brown could start Friday’s game against Seattle, depending on his usage in Miami.

“He's not skipped. It's not a demotion, just as it wasn't with J.P. France,” Miller said. “With off-days you figure out how to jam guys in, and Hunter will be available out of the bullpen in Miami. If he pitches, I'm sure he'll pitch well. If he doesn't, we'll probably work him back into rotation after the off-day."

Verlander has made four starts on four days of rest this year and 15 on five days or more of rest. Last year, coming off Tommy John surgery, he pitched on four days of rest five times and five days of rest 16 times en route to his third Cy Young. Because Verlander was coming off nearly two years without pitching, the six-man rotation helped ease his workload in 2022. There are no such workload concerns this year.

“With him being very routine-oriented, having the extra, extra day is not great for him,” Miller said. “That’s part of what went into the decision to have him go on regular rest here so he didn’t have two extra days.”

Urquidy lasted only 3 1/3 innings and threw 62 pitches, allowing three runs, last Sunday at Yankee Stadium in his first start in three months. He got stretched out to 80 pitches against the Angels, allowing one run and three hits while striking out seven batters. He generated a season-high-tying 15 swings and misses -- nine with his sinker and four with his changeup.

“I felt stronger and I was mixing up all my pitches -- the changeup was running and the curveball, too,” Urquidy said. “I feel good physically, very good, 100 percent. I need to continue doing that and finish hard this season.”

The health of the rotation, though, falls on the shoulders of lefty Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier, who will start the first two games in Miami. This will be Valdez’s second start since he threw a no-hitter Aug. 1 against the Guardians. He had a 7.00 ERA in his previous five starts prior to the no-hitter, and then allowed six runs on eight hits in seven innings against Baltimore on Tuesday. Javier has a 7.54 ERA in his past eight starts.

“We’re not quite operating on all cylinders yet, but we’re close,” manager Dusty Baker said. “We’re very close.”