The Houston Astros have used eight different starting pitchers in their first 20 games. On Friday night at Daikin Park against the St. Louis Cardinals, Peter Lambert will become the ninth.
Lambert had his contract selected Thursday after the Astros added him to their taxi squad—players kept on standby for immediate activation. The path here was anything but straightforward. Lambert opted out of his minor league deal in March after learning he wouldn’t make the opening day roster, then returned to the organization shortly after. Spencer Arrighetti followed a similar taxi squad route earlier this week, rewarding Houston’s confidence with six strong innings and 10 strikeouts Wednesday. Lambert will try to do the same in a rotation that desperately needs length.
The need is urgent. As Matt Kawahara detailed in the Houston Chronicle on Friday, only three bullpens in the majors have worked more innings than Houston’s, and no team had logged more multi-inning appearances by relievers entering Thursday. The Astros added three more in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Rockies. Seven times this season, Houston’s starter has not finished the fourth inning, including five of their last eight games.
“This could take a toll long term,” manager Joe Espada said Thursday night. “We need to start executing and be more efficient.”
Peter Lambert gives the Astros a chance to ease that burden, if only for one night. The 28-year-old right-hander has spent his entire MLB career with the Colorado Rockies, going 8-19 with a 6.28 ERA across 74 appearances. None of that is particularly encouraging. But Lambert impressed during spring training, posting a 2.92 ERA across 12⅓ Grapefruit League innings before roster math pushed him out. He opted out of his minor league deal when informed he wouldn’t make the club, only to return shortly after and continue building his case at Triple-A Sugar Land. His most recent start, against Tacoma on April 10, was his best of the year—six innings, four hits, one earned run, eight strikeouts, and one walk. He takes the mound Friday on a full week of rest.
Lance McCullers Jr. is scheduled to start Saturday, with Mike Burrows closing out the series Sunday. That is a more stable back end to the weekend. But Friday belongs to Lambert, a journeyman who has never stuck as a full-time starter at the big league level. His only season in that role came as a rookie in 2019, when he went 3-7 with a 7.25 ERA in 19 starts for Colorado.
The circumstances are different now. Lambert is older, better rested, and pitching for a team that needs innings badly. Whether he can deliver them is the question the Astros need answered tonight.
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