HOUSTON — Taken in a vacuum, the struggles of Astros reliever Ken Giles are significant. When Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez twirled a three-hit, 16-strikeout shutout at the Padres on Thursday, it cast a hotter light on the offseason trade the Astros executed to acquire Giles.
Giles, the centerpiece in a seven-player trade that featured three key pitching prospects (including Velasquez) going to Philadelphia, allowed his third home run in four appearances Wednesday in a 4-2 loss to the Royals.
Giles (0-1, 12.27 ERA) — for context — surrendered three home runs over his previous 113 games and 115 2/3 innings with the Phillies.
The Astros paid dearly for Giles, whose upper-90s fastball was deemed a perfect complement to a bullpen that performed effectively last season but didn’t miss enough bats when the Royals rallied to win Game 4 of the American League Division Series.
Giles, though, scuffled during spring training, failed to win the closer’s job outright (incumbent Luke Gregerson kept the gig), and has been hammered with his new team.
“Obviously we don’t like where he’s at in terms of struggling from the numbers standpoint and giving up the long ball, but the stuff out of his hand is really good,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “He’s a confident guy and he’s not going to back down from the challenge. He’s not going to look to not be used. I trust him to turn it around and turn it around quickly.”
A hasty rebound would soothe some frayed nerves. Before taking the loss against the Royals when catcher Salvador Perez smacked a two-run, tie-breaking homer in the eighth inning, Giles allowed a tie-breaking, three-run homer to Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira in an 8-5 loss on April 7.
His first outing with Houston included Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius greeting Giles with a solo home run. Despite his issues, Giles will continue to work high-leverage innings for the Astros.
“He’s been effective except for one pitch or two pitches in an outing,” Hinch said. “It’s hard to take him out of his role when it’s really one mistake. If it was a colossal struggle for him it’d be a little bit different but it’s one pitch doesn’t go his way against Gordon and one ill-advised slider in the zone to Perez. Otherwise we’re not even talking about him. And the same goes for the Teixeira at-bat in New York.
“This level is tough. When you make mistakes it gets exploited. No matter how good you are or how good you’ve been, the league will remind you that you can be humbled in a heartbeat.”