HOUSTON — Despite the relative nuisance of two off days during a four-day stretch this week, the Houston Astros remain committed to keeping their five-man rotation on schedule even with the pending return of ace right-hander Scott Feldman from the 15-day disabled list this weekend.
Right-hander Jarred Cosart and lefty Brett Oberholtzer are the scheduled starters for the Astros’ two-game interleague series with the Washington Nationals on Tuesday and Wednesday. But with Feldman available this weekend and right-hander Collin McHugh delivering another exceptional spot start on Sunday against the Oakland Athletics, how the Astros manage their weekend series against the Seattle Mariners remains up in the air. Houston had a scheduled day off Thursday.
“It’s rare that you have two days off in a week, but we’re going to try to take advantage of it and give the guys some extra rest,” Astros manager Bo Porter said.
Feldman, McHugh (2-0, 0.59 ERA) and left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA and 25 strikeouts over 25 1/3 innings since April 10, appear to be solid bets to remain in the rotation in the foreseeable future. That could leave right-hander Brad Peacock (0-2, 5.95 ERA) as the odd man out when Feldman is activated as expected on Saturday.
“He threw (Saturday) and that was is fine,” Porter said of Feldman. “We’ll continue to let him progress and hopefully everything is OK.”