Houston Astros skipper supports struggling star after recent disaster

It finally looked like the Houston Astros were gaining momentum at the most important time of their season.

The offense seemed to be working, having scored 6.0 points per game in its previous five games heading into Sunday’s finale where they sought a sweep against the Los Angeles Angels.

Then a blown lead brought things back to reality where they are 6.5 games out of first place and 4.5 out of the Wild Card.

For a moment, he thought, it looked like they were going to keep going.

With Justin Verlander on the mound, the Astros took a 3-1 lead before their ace squandered it in the fifth inning when he gave up his fourth run of the game. However, the offense came into play, scoring four points in the very next frame to take a 7-4 lead.

Houston came into the game trailing by two runs as their former elite closer, Ryan Pressly, was called upon for the eighth inning.

Unfortunately, the veteran had another disastrous performance.

The right-hander immediately gave up a ground-rule double, then an RBI double two batters later, allowing the Angels to cut the deficit to one. Due to a wild pitch, the man on second moved to third and was able to score on a ground ball to tie the game.

That ended Pressly’s day as they had to call on Josh Hader to get them out of this mess before the ninth inning.

Ultimately, Hader gave up a two-run homer in the next frame.

Their installer struggles continue to be frustrating for this team. Pressly now has a 5.40 ERA, putting him on track to finish with an ERA above 4.00 for the first time in nearly 7.5 years with the Astros. His ERA+ of 72 would easily be the lowest of his career.

But manager Joe Espada is not giving up hope that he can turn things around.

“We’re going to continue to rely on (Pressly). He’s one of our guys. He’s a big part of our bullpen, and I believe in him. He’s gotten big outs for us in the past and he will do (again),” he said according to Michael Shapiro of Chron.com.

His belief is clear as he used it in back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.

Perhaps that will change in the future, as it’s clear the 35-year-old’s arm isn’t as active as it used to be in scenarios like this, but Espada won’t hesitate to call on his veteran out of the bullpen.