Still in search of command, McCullers grinds through 5 scoreless

HOUSTON -- Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. threw five scoreless innings on Friday night in his third start of the season after coming off a long layoff because of injury. He reached 90 pitches and did more than enough to give his team a chance to win.

That didn’t stop McCullers from expressing frustration over his outing and his stuff, saying he battled command of all of his pitches and wasn’t able to take the adjustments he made in the bullpen between his starts onto the mound.

“Obviously, nothing to write home about,” McCullers said after the Astros’ 2-0 loss to the Orioles at Minute Maid Park. “I’m not where I want to be. Stuff-wise, most of it [was] self-inflicted. I've got to keep working, and I think eventually, the more reps I get when I get off the mound ... things will kind of clean up.”

McCullers, who injured his right forearm in last year’s American League Division Series and spent most of the season rehabbing, has a 1.69 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 16 innings in his three big league starts this year. He’s allowed 13 hits and 10 walks while striking out 13 batters.

He took the mound Friday on a 90-pitch limit, which is why the Astros moved Cristian Javier to the bullpen temporarily. Javier relieved McCullers and threw three innings, giving up a two-run homer to Ramón Urías in the sixth that was the difference in the game. McCullers needed 63 pitches to get through three innings before throwing 17 in the fourth and 10 in the fifth.

“I caught a bit of a rhythm and shorter, more efficient innings," McCullers said. “Just some of those innings there [in the] middle with guys on, every pitch is an important pitch, and the pitch count kind of climbed on me.”

McCullers allowed the leadoff batter to reach in the first three innings and got a key double play in the third, with second baseman Jose Altuve fielding a grounder to his right and whirling in the air to shortstop Jeremy Peña at second base, who fired a strong throw to first for a 4-6-3 double play.

“That was a massive play, huge turn, great play, and Jeremy made a great throw,” McCullers said.

The issue for McCullers isn’t health but just a matter of repetition. He said the mechanical adjustments he made were nowhere to be found when he took the mound for Friday’s game. He has good bullpen sessions but doesn’t have the same command when the game starts.

“It’s hard, because you can’t work on it until you’re in the game,” he said. “The game is game speed. There is no other speed. Unfortunately, with what we do, you can’t really get out there and rip heaters at 95 [mph] midweek or before your start. So you make adjustments you think are going to pan out and sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You kind of go back to the drawing board. I’ve been grinding these first couple of starts. I don’t really have my full arsenal going, and I feel like once I do, it’ll get easier for me.”

When asked which pitches needed the most work, McCullers said all of them, based on how he felt Friday.

“I felt like I didn't really have anywhere to go tonight,” he said. “Previous starts, it’s like, ‘Oh, this isn’t good, that isn’t good, but I have other weapons.’ ... Tonight, it was, ‘Didn’t land the curveball, so let’s go to the cutter. Didn’t land the cutter, let’s go to the changeup.’ You’re just in bad counts a lot. It’s stressful, and the hitters have a massive advantage when you're in kind of those leverage counts in their favor all the time. Just got to lock in a little bit.”

McCullers did hit 96 mph on a sinker against Jorge Mateo in the fourth inning, which was his hardest thrown pitch in the game. While that’s a good sign, the velo doesn’t mean too much if he can’t put it all together.

"It’s just frustrating for me,” McCullers said. “You put a lot of work in and watch a lot of film. The coaches [watch] a lot of film. They’re game planning and when you get in the game and it’s like … I might as well just throw [left-handed].”