Long road back has McCullers excited for G3 start

SEATTLE -- The first time Lance McCullers Jr. took the ball in a clinching situation for the Astros was Game 4 of the 2015 American League Division Series, when an upstart Houston team -- in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years -- needed one win at home to eliminate the Royals.

McCullers did his part, holding Kansas City to two runs in 6 1/3 innings, but a late-game bullpen meltdown -- the Astros gave up five runs in the eighth and two in the ninth -- allowed the Royals to win the game. They eventually eliminated the Astros in five games and went on to win the World Series.

The postseason has treated the Astros a little kinder in recent years, with the club now on the cusp of its sixth consecutive AL Championship Series appearance.

For the second year in a row, McCullers will start for the Astros in a potential ALDS clincher when he gets the ball against the Mariners in Game 3 on Saturday at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. It will mark the eighth time McCullers has pitched in a game where the Astros could clinch a series, including a win in last year’s Division Series Game 4 in Chicago against the White Sox.

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"I think these are the moments you want to be in, as a team, as an individual," he said. “We put in a lot of hard work, beyond the start of spring, but of course Spring Training forward. These are the moments you want to find yourself in. I think pitching in big games is an honor, it's a privilege, it's something that you grow up as a little kid dreaming to do. So I've got no doubt it will be rocking tomorrow. But I'm excited to feel the energy and go out there and give it my all."

McCullers helped send the Astros to the ALCS last year when he allowed one run to the White Sox in four innings in a game in which he injured his elbow. He could only watch from the dugout as a beleaguered Astros pitching staff ran out of gas in the World Series, losing in six games to the Braves.

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"You give us Lance, we might have been a different team," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “We might have been the world champs. When Lance went down that day and said he couldn’t do it anymore and it was his arm, my heart sank. For Lance’s journey after that, and the way he’s worked out and come back, he loves to pitch. He’s probably one of the most determined guys I’ve ever had on a team. And determination will take you a long way."

Still, McCullers showed up at Spring Training this year "97 1/2% sure" he would need a second major arm surgery (he missed the 2019 season following Tommy John surgery), but instead rehabbed throughout the summer and returned to the Astros on Aug. 13. The grueling rehab was made with one goal in mind -- getting the ball in a big game in October.

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"The question marks were large in Spring Training for sure, and then even through the season, we got to almost a point in June where we didn't really know," he said. "It was like, 'Do we just throw the towel in and just have surgery and keep kind of pushing through with the rehab?' Because we didn't want to sacrifice the following season. … I got to make it back here; I could be sitting in a sling right now.”

Not only did McCullers make an unlikely return to the rotation, but he’s pitched well. He went 4-2 with a 2.27 ERA in eight starts to end the season and will be starting Saturday for the first time since Oct. 3, putting him on 10 days of rest. He said last week he feels like he’s throwing the ball as good as he ever has.

The Astros won four of the previous seven clinchers in which McCullers has pitched, including Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS, when he threw four scoreless innings in relief against the Yankees, and Game 7 of the following World Series, in which he started and threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

"I'm night and day from that guy who stepped on the mound at Minute Maid when I was [22] for our first postseason game back, [and] I'm way different than even 2017," he said. "To be able to be back and be pitching in October on a great team, kind of coming just off the injuries the last few years … and not have to go through rehab, I'm just really grateful."