The Astros announced that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. placed on the 15-day injured list, resume until May 16, due to right shoulder inflammation. The boy is good Nate Pearson reinstated from IL for 15 days on concurrent leave. Houston also returns an outfielder Jake Meyers from 10-day IL and designated hitter/outfielder Shay Whitcomb.
McCullers was scheduled to start tonight’s game but the team announced a few hours ago that he had been scratched, Jason Alexander instead of taking football in the evening. Although this was a last-minute deal, manager Joe Espada said McCullers has been dealing with shoulder pain “for a while,” according to Chandler Rome of The Athletic. It’s unclear how much time McCullers will miss, as he heads to Houston for further testing.
Injuries have been a big part of McCullers’ recent history. He missed the 2023 and 2024 seasons with an injury that required surgery. He was back on the mound in 2025 and made 16 appearances, but with reduced velocity and a 6.51 earned run average. Here in 2026, he has a 6.86 ERA in eight starts.
While he doesn’t look like the same pitcher he was before injuries set him back, it’s still a blow to the Astros. The club has been hit hard by injuries this year. In circulation, Hunter Brown again Cristian Javier each is on IL due to shoulder issues. The club is still waiting Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter again Hayden Wesneski coming back from Tommy John surgery last year.
With those injuries and more, they’ve had to rely on almost every available depth. They also tried to rotate six people at different times, because of the schedule and trying to manage the work Tatsuya Imai. There are 12 different strikers who have started running for this club. Some of them were opening players but it is clear that the club was not good for the boys. While McCullers doesn’t have great numbers, taking him out of the equation means they’ll have to continue to add depth when they’re already 19-30 on the year.
As mentioned, Alexander takes the ball tonight. That could be a starting point or he could stick with another opportunity. Mike Burrows it’s a scheduled starter tomorrow. The Astros are off Thursday, which is likely a chance to recover and regroup before they play 10 straight days.
Burrows, Imai, Spencer Arrighetti, Peter Lambert again Kai-Wei Teng they are in the cycle at the moment. If Alexander doesn’t catch on, they have Miguel Ullola, Colton Gordon again Ryan Weiss in an optional career at Triple-A. Ullola has a 6.03 ERA and a 16.8% walk rate in Triple-A this year. The Astros don’t trust him enough to call him anywhere else this season, even though they really need arms. Gordon and Weiss got MLB time earlier this year but both posted ERAs north of 7.00 in those appearances. Rome floats the chance to call Ethan Peckowho has a 2.21 ERA on the farm this year, although he is not yet on the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
