The Kansas City Royals have already secured a winning homestand with their four-game sweep of the White Sox, but they hope to keep the momentum up with a three-game series against the Houston Astros.

The Astros are off to a rough start, tied with the Oakland and/or Sacramento Athletics for last in the AL West with a 4-7 record.  However, four of those losses were decided by two or fewer runs, as evidenced by their respectable +1 run differential.  Their team ERA of 3.99 ranks 12th in the Majors and their wRC+ of 123 is 4th, further indicating that their record is not telling the full story.

Speaking of stories, one of their players has been the protagonist of one of baseball’s biggest this season. Ronel Blanco (no relation to Dairon) threw a no-hitter in his first start of the season, then pitched another 5 2/3 hitless innings in his second start. It broke the record for most outs recorded before allowing a hit to begin a season — a record that was set by KC’s own Austin Cox last year.

Ronel only made the team due to the myriad injuries that have fractured Houston’s usually amazing pitching staff. Justin Verlander and José Urquidy have been shelved for the time being due to minor scuffs while Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia are still out indefinitely with major elbow injuries.

Houston had a surprisingly quiet off-season, which seemed to begin and end with adding Josh Hader as a closer. Even though he’s already blown a save to begin the year, he should still be a modest boost to a bullpen that was already one of MLB’s best in 2023. Aside from that, expect much of the same roster that made its seventh ALCS appearance in a row.

All in all, despite the poor record, the Astros should still be looked at as a top-tier team, and another test for the steadfast Royals on the level of the Baltimore series. 

Houston Batting

Pitching Matchups

Tuesday, April 9 @ 7:05 PM
Cristian Javier (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 11.0 IP) v Cole Ragans (0-1, 1.46 ERA, 12.1 IP) – Javier is off to an interesting start, as he has yet to give up a run despite surrendering more walks (6) than hits (5) so far. He’s also throwing his changeup almost as often as his four seamer despite it being his worst pitch last year. Ragans meanwhile is pitching up to the incredible expectations placed on him and will hope to achieve his first win. He won both of his matchups against Houston last year, but they posted seven runs in his combined twelve innings.

Wednesday, April 10 @ 7:40 PM
Hunter Brown (0-1, 6.43 ERA, 7.0 IP) v Seth Lugo (1-0, 0.71 ERA, 12.2 IP) – Brown is a young, homegrown starter who filled the bottom of Houston’s rotation last year, though not with incredible results. The righty posted an ERA just above 5, though his FIP was much lower and he struck out hitters at a strong 26.8% clip. His two starts have been brief and laboring, throwing 80+ pitches in both of them despite the low inning total, thanks to a tremendously high walk and hit rate. Lugo, on the other hand, is practically the opposite, as he has almost avoided striking hitters out, but limits baserunners and pitches efficient innings.

Thursday, April 11 @ 1:10 PM
J.P. France (0-1, 4.76 ERA, 11.1 IP) v Brady Singer (1-0, 0.68 ERA, 13.1 IP) – This could be a funny matchup as both of these pitchers were bottom-12 in generating swings last year. France is another relatively new starter in H-Town, as he debuted last year but put up a good 3.83 ERA in 23 starts. As implied, he doesn’t generate a lot of strikeouts and aims for contact with his five pitches. Singer will aim to continue his strong start on the season, with the big talking point surrounding him being the new kinds of pitches he’s throwing this year.

Image credit: Kevin Cox, Associated Press