Dominant Garcia highlights Astros' strong pitching

HOUSTON -- Every Astros starting pitcher who began the year in the rotation has made five starts after right-hander Luis Garcia shut down the Tigers on Friday. Garcia's outing continued an impressive run by Houston’s starters that has helped the Astros win nine of their last 11 games, including five in a row, after taking down the Tigers, 3-2, at Minute Maid Park.

Garcia turned in arguably the best start of his career, holding Detroit to two runs (one earned) and two hits while tying his career highs in both innings pitched (7) and strikeouts (9). The Astros improved to 4-1 this year in games he has started.

Astros starting pitchers have posted nine quality starts in the team’s last 12 games, posting a 1.97 ERA in that stretch. In the last turn through the rotation (six starts), Astros starters have a 1.42 ERA with 21 hits and eight walks allowed in 38 innings. And Houston is doing it without its best starter from last year -- injured right-hander Lance McCullers Jr.

“It starts with the starters,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “The deeper they go, the better our bullpen is and not overworked and it has been really great during the stretch. We were fearful during this stretch with all the games during the short period of time. We were losing some one-run games early and now we’re winning one-run games, and a lot of that is pitching speed and defense.”

Here’s a closer look at the stellar work of the Houston rotation:

Justin Verlander (3-1, 1.93 ERA)
Key stat: 0.70 WHIP

Verlander has picked up from where he left off in his last full season in 2019, when he won his second American League Cy Young. He posted a quality start in each of his last four outings and for the season has a .171 opponents’ batting average. Verlander surpassed 100 pitches in his last outing Wednesday and his arm responded well, so the expectation is he could push 110, 120 pitches in his next couple of starts. He has walked only four batters in 32 2/3 innings.

Framber Valdez (1-2, 3.42 ERA)
Key stat: Leads Majors with 72 percent groundball rate.

After allowing seven earned runs, nine walks and 10 hits in 7 1/3 innings combined in consecutive starts April 13 at Arizona and April 19 against the Angels, the lefty has thrown back-to-back quality starts -- both on the road. Valdez, who starts Saturday against the Tigers at Minute Maid Park, has given up three earned runs and only four walks in 12 1/3 innings in his last two games. The Astros are 1-4 in games he’s started, but if he can limit walks he’s an effective workhorse.

José Urquidy (2-1, 4.56 ERA)
Key stat: Tied with Robbie Ray for the 6th-highest average exit velocity against (91.2 mph) among pitchers who have faced at least 100 batters.

Urquidy finally picked up his first quality start Thursday when he threw six shutout innings against the Tigers, allowing six hits and one walk. Urquidy is a strike-thrower who’s usually around the zone, which tends to lead him to get burned by hard contact. He was able to limit that on Thursday with a 91-pitch outing that was his longest of the season. Urquidy’s average exit velocity in that game was an improved 86.4 mph.

Luis Garcia (2-1, 3.45 ERA)
Key stat: .597 opponent OPS

Garcia, relying mostly on his fastball and cutter, had 17 whiffs on 45 swings by Tigers batters (38 percent) on Friday. He’s thrown quality starts in two consecutive outings and reached a season-high 91 pitches against the Tigers. Garcia struggled to throw his cutter effectively in the first three innings against Detroit, but once he made some mechanical adjustments at the behest of pitching coach Josh Miller and veteran catcher Martín Maldonado, he sent down the final 15 batters he faced.

Jake Odorizzi (2-2, 4.15 ERA)
Key stat: One earned run allowed last 12 2/3 innings

After posting a 9.00 ERA and 2.56 WHIP in his first three starts of the season, Odorizzi credited a change in mindset -- including talks with Verlander and third baseman Alex Bregman, who watched one of his bullpens last week in Toronto -- with turning his season around. He held the Rangers to one run in six innings on April 26 and threw 6 2/3 scoreless on Monday against the Mariners. He’s won consecutive games for the first time since June 9-15, 2019.

Cristian Javier (2-0, 0.96 ERA, two starts)
Key stat: 0.86 WHIP

The Astros moved Javier to the rotation from the bullpen early in a stretch in which they played 33 games in 34 days. He’s been terrific in two starts, holding the Rangers to two runs on April 27 and throwing 5 1/3 scoreless Tuesday against the Mariners. Javier is still getting stretched out, having thrown a season-high 87 pitches in his last start, but he might be in the rotation to stay, even if the Astros decide to go back to a five-man rotation in the coming weeks.