Cristian Javier gave the Astros exactly the kind of start they were hunting for Sunday - for four innings, anyway.
He was sharp from the jump against the Athletics, blanking them through four, striking out eight, and allowing just two hits and a walk. Nine of the first 10 batters he faced were retired, with Brian Serven the only one to manage a hit. Daulton Varsho helped preserve the shutout with a big catch in center, and Houston’s offense handed Javier a 6-0 cushion.
Then the whole thing unraveled fast.
By the end of the top of the fifth, Javier was out of the game, the Athletics had tied it 6-6, and the Astros were left with a no-decision that said a lot about where his month in the rotation has gone. What looked like the reset Houston needed after Saturday’s 4-3 loss turned into another reminder that Javier’s move back into the rotation still isn’t clicking.
The damage in the fifth started with Donovan Walton’s leadoff single, then a walk to Darell Henaiz after he challenged a strike call and won. Serven followed by launching his fourth homer of the season, trimming Houston’s lead to 6-3 and ending Javier’s afternoon. Enyel De Los Santos then allowed three runs later in the inning, and the game was suddenly back to level.
The rough patch stands in contrast to how Javier looked when Houston first brought him back in July after two months on the injured list with a grade two shoulder strain. The Astros initially used him out of the bullpen, and the setup worked. In five appearances that month - only one of them a start - he went 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA, struck out 17, walked six and held opponents to a .234 average across 12 innings.
That made the eventual shift to the rotation seem reasonable. On July 27, he threw 70 pitches over five relief innings and gave up just three hits, a performance that suggested he was ready for a bigger workload. Since then, though, the results have fallen apart.
Sunday was another example of how the month has gone. Javier’s .317 opponent batting average in August caught up with him in the fifth, and he never got through six innings.
In fact, he’s reached six innings only once this month, and that outing is his lone quality start. More often, he hasn’t been able to reliably get Houston through five.
The underlying numbers haven’t helped his case either. His Statcast page is covered in blue, and the biggest red flag is his 24.6% ground ball rate, which ranks in the first percentile in the game.
Javier has never been a ground ball specialist, but he’s usually been able to make up for that with chase, whiff and strikeout numbers. This year, that support hasn’t been there.
Right now, Javier has become the kind of pitcher who forces a team to hope for a little luck every time he takes the mound. For an Astros club deep in a playoff race, that’s a dangerous place to be.
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