On Monday, the Houston Astros completed a 10-game road trip so nightmarish that a starting pitcher allowing six earned runs over laborious six innings essentially represented a high point.
The Astros dropped the finale of a four-game series with the Seattle Mariners 6-2 on Monday, extending their losing streak to eight games, the longest for the club since 2013. Houston, which will host the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game series, placed five players on the injured list during the road trip, including three members of its starting rotation.
With ace Hunter Brown and fellow right-handers Cristian Javier and Tatsuya Imai on the IL, the Astros’ rotation is in flux. Only Mike Burrows, who worked six innings on Monday, and Lance McCullers Jr., who didn’t escape the fifth inning on Saturday, remain in the rotation. Despite being in an early stage of the season, the Astros are in desperate need of a reset.
“This is a road trip that’s one to forget,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “We’ve got to go home and start all over again.”
Left-hander Colton Gordon, recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land on Monday, is scheduled to start the series opener for the Astros. Gordon finished 6-4 with a 5.34 ERA across 20 appearances (14 starts) as a rookie last season. He made his big league debut on May 14, 2025, against the Kansas City Royals, but did not factor into the decision of the Astros’ 4-3 victory after allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings. In three starts with Sugar Land this season, Gordon is 1-1 with a 1.76 ERA and 13 strikeouts across 15 1/3 innings.
In his lone career appearance against the Rockies, Gordon allowed four runs on nine hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings but did not factor into the decision of the Astros’ 6-5 road win on July 1, 2025.
Right-hander Michael Lorenzen (1-1, 8.36 ERA) is the probable starter for the Rockies on Tuesday. He worked a scoreless inning of relief against the San Diego Padres on Saturday in his first appearance out of the bullpen after three turns through the rotation. Lorenzen is in his first season with the Rockies after pitching for the Royals last season and splitting time between Kansas City and the Texas Rangers in 2024. After spending his first seven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, Lorenzen has pitched for six organizations since 2022.
Lorenzen is 1-3 with a 5.74 ERA across seven career appearances (five starts) against the Astros. He earned the win against Houston on April 8 after allowing one run on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings in the Rockies’ 9-1 home victory.
The Rockies followed their three-game sweep of the Astros last week by dropping all four games of a weekend series with the San Diego Padres. With their bullpen already taxed after the Padres scored 21 runs in the first three games of the series, the Rockies scratched left-hander Kyle Freeland before the series finale. Valente Bellozo salvaged things by working 4 1/3 innings of relief, but Colorado was looking forward to the off day in Houston on Monday.
“The off day will help big time,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said.
According to Schaeffer, left-hander Jose Quintana should be available during the series against the Astros after a recent bullpen session. Quintana landed on the 15-day injured list with a right hamstring strain on March 30.
–Field Level Media
