The Astros have a budding star at the back of their starting rotation. Maturation is apparent after every outing, when Cristian Javier clears another hurdle or meets another milestone. Three or four claps coming off the mound is Javier’s preferred method of celebration. With a stone face and sneaky fastball, Javier is cementing himself as one of the Astros’ most reliable arms.
Houston optioned him to its alternate training site earlier this month in hopes of building his endurance and keeping him on a regimented routine. Tuesday offered hope that Javier fulfilled the club’s objectives, a welcomed sign for the Astros’ sketchy bullpen and inconsistent starting rotation.
With only two runs of support and almost no margin for error, Javier spun the best outing of his career. The righthander handcuffed the Seattle Mariners in seven spectacular innings during a 2-0 win, pushing Houston back above .500. Javier threw a career-high 107 pitches and did not allow a runner to third base. Kyle Seager struck two hits against him. No other Mariner mustered one.
“I feel like he’s taking this more serious this year,” catcher Martin Maldonado said. “He knows it’s a long season. He got his feet wet last year. I think the ability that he wants to stay here as long as he can, that’s motivating him to get better every day.”
Javier has not allowed a run in 17 consecutive innings. Opponents are hitting .155 in 20⅔ frames against him this season. His ERA? 0.87.
Javier has not allowed a run in 25 days. Early Tuesday, he did not have a precise handle of his secondary pitches. It did not matter. Javier threw 68 four-seam fastballs with conviction. It averaged an unexciting 92.8 mph. Only one registered 95 mph. Velocity does not matter when the ball has such deception and hop.
“It’s really, really hard to pick up,” Maldonado said. “That kind of fastball that he has gets on top of you quick. You think it’s going to be down and away, it’s up and away. That’s why you see a lot of swing and miss under the ball. They do a really good job here of developing a pitcher like that, with good hop. That’s been a difference maker in this organization.”
Feel for Javier’s slider and changeup returned as the game progressed. The Mariners did strike some balls hard, but all found Astros gloves. Hard outs are still outs.
The Astros may have to manage Javier’s workload as the season grows longer. Each inning thrown must be carefully selected. On another inopportune night for Houston’s offense, manager Dusty Baker had few reliable options in his bullpen.
Holding onto a slim lead against an American League West rival seemed paramount. Setup man Ryne Stanek threw 29 pitches during Monday evening’s win. Baker did not want to use him a day later. Javier absorbed another inning to keep the bullpen door closed, navigating Seattle’s order a third time in the sixth and seventh.
“I don’t even think he’s fazed by that,” Baker said. “He had (catcher Martin Maldonado) directing him through the lineup. This is what we needed, especially during this 13-game streak (without an off day).”
Brooks Raley and closer Ryan Pressly teamed for two perfect frames to finish a night Javier owned.
Opponents entered Tuesday slashing .381/.417/.524 when seeing Javier a second time. Javier saw the top six hitters in Seattle’s order thrice. He allowed one hit. Alex Bregman leapt to steal a hit from Kyle Lewis to start the seventh. Javier struck out six-hole hitter Sam Haggerty to end his outing.
“His fastball command wasn’t there like it normally is,” Maldonado said. “I think we mixed pretty equally different pitches where we had them guessing the second and third time through the lineup.”
Javier eluded inefficiency and attacked the strike zone. None of his seven innings needed more than 19 pitches. The leadoff man reached once on Haggerty’s fifth inning walk. His inexcusable baserunning blunder erased any stress the mistake may have caused.
After allowing Haggerty aboard, Javier filled the count against Taylor Trammell. Seattle’s center fielder lifted a changeup to shallow right field. Haggerty ran before the pitch left Javier’s hand, but stopped between first and second base to track the ball’s flight. Kyle Tucker charged and corralled it.
For reasons that escape logic, Haggerty did not start back toward first base. His pause proved fatal. Tucker lobbed a relay throw to first base for the simplest outfield assist he may ever accrue. Javier spun a wicked slider that caught the outer half against Tom Murphy, finishing the inning and keeping his duel with Seattle starter Marco Gonzales going.
Gonzales awoke Tuesday with terrible numbers against the Astros. Houston struck 56 hits and scored 27 earned runs in 41⅔ career frames against him. Its 5.83 earned-run average is the highest among American League West teams against Gonzales.
Gonzales got through three innings on 35 pitches. The Astros did not see a ball until five-hole hitter Yuli Gurriel took his first plate appearance. Gonzales gathered three outs on six pitches in the first. Myles Straw’s one-out walk during the third was Gonzales’ only mistake his first time through Houston’s order.
The Astros’ second look delivered more familiar results. The lineup exhausted him for 31 pitches in a two-run fourth inning. Michael Brantley and Alex Bregman delivered hits to start the frame. Yordan Alvarez’s sacrifice fly sent Brantley home. Carlos Correa coaxed a two-out walk to bring Tucker up.
Bad luck has beset Tucker throughout a miserable beginning to his season. Hard-hit balls find gloves. Defenders make delightful plays to rob him. On Tuesday, he struck two balls in play harder than 101 mph. Both resulted in outs.
Sandwiched between may be the break he needed. With Bregman still at third, Tucker smacked Gonzales’ first-pitch curveball up the middle.
Second baseman Ty France dove to stop it. The baseball stuck in the webbing of his glove. Bregman scored. Tucker reached safely with an infield single.
“He’s probably the most frustrated guy on the team,” Baker said. “I talked to him today about getting whatever he can until he gets what he wants later on. That was a big RBI he got.”
Javier needed nothing more.
“It was great watching him pitch,” Baker said, “and the team really needed it.”
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