McCullers wins 1st start in nearly 2 years

HOUSTON -- He said earlier this week that he quit counting the days since his previous Major League start, which seemed ages ago. A grueling year of Tommy John rehab and the anticipation of a spring return gave way to the coronavirus shutdown, pushing Lance McCullers Jr.’s timeline back even more.

McCullers’ wait ended Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park when he made his first start since Aug. 4, 2018 -- a span of 721 days, if you’re counting at home -- and threw the ball well for six innings to beat the Mariners, 7-2, for his first win in more than two years.

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“There’s been a lot of ups and downs in that period of time,” said McCullers, who threw 92 pitches en route to his first win since July 6, 2018. “It’s been a long road. Two years is a long time and it was great to get back and compete and it’s changed my outlook on a lot.”

The Astros have won 20 of their last 21 against Seattle, including 15 in a row. That’s the third-longest active winning streak for one team against another in the Majors. It’s also the club record for the longest winning streak against any team.

McCullers’ early control issues -- he walked three of the first six hitters he faced -- were an alignment problem that he said was the result of some changes he’s been working on with his curveball. His breaking ball was coming out a little bit harder than it had been throughout Summer Camp, so he made an adjustment with the eyes and the placement of catcher Martín Maldonado.

“I have had Maldy being set up on the outside corner, all the way on the corner,” McCullers said. “The breaking ball hasn’t had a lot of downward bite. We’ve been working on it. Opening up, that line just wasn’t working for me. I was kind of yanking them in the other batter’s box. ... I made the adjustment and throughout the day my curveball became a pitch I was using in the zone to get back in the count and I got a couple of strikeouts on them.”

The Astros supported McCullers with a four-run fourth inning that started with a Yuli Gurriel solo homer off Taijuan Walker and was capped by a two-run single by Maldonado for a 5-0 lead. George Springer cranked a leadoff homer in the sixth to push the Houston lead to 7-2. Every Astros starter had at least one hit.

“I think people must have forgot we can hit,” McCullers quipped.

McCullers, who threw an MLB-high 46.7% curveballs in ‘18, mixed his pitches rather evenly. He still relied on his nasty curve (36 pitches), but threw a high volume of changeups (28%) and went to the fastball more late in the game, throwing 30% sinkers. The changeup drew rave reviews from Mariners manager Scott Servais.

“It comes right out of the tunnel of his two-seamer and he’s known for the really good breaking ball,” he said. “We had him on the ropes early. The first inning, we had a great opportunity and he made a pitch and got the double-play ball there and a couple double plays in the first couple innings that really helped him get going.”

A pair of walks and a double in the first loaded the bases with one out for Austin Nola, who hit into a 6-4-3 double play. In the second, the Mariners put runners on first and second with no outs when J.P. Crawford hit into a double play.

“I’m a ground-ball pitcher and I know I’m always a pitch away,” McCullers said. “I learned that from [Dallas Keuchel] himself. No matter how bad it might be or how many guys are on base, you can get out of it with one pitch. That was my mindset with the first couple [innings], getting around some baserunners early. I settled in nicely.”