While not his first time pitching in an MLB stadium, being a part of team Israel during the 2023 WBC, Houston Astros pitcher Colton Gordon made his Major League debut in today’s game against the Kansas City Royals and it went … just okay.

After he started the game with a strikeout to his friend Jonathan India, Gordon allowed a triple to Bobby Witt Jr. before getting two more outs to get out of his first inning of MLB ball.

The first batter for the Royals in the second gave Gordon his first real taste of the big leagues when Maikel Garcia got them on the board off a hanging slider that was smoked to the Crawford Boxes. They grabbed one more run in the second when India returned the favor to Gordon with an RBI-double, putting the KC up 2-0.

Houston got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on what should have been a game-tying home run from Isaac Paredes, but after a second leadoff hit from Jeremy Peña, Jose Altuve followed him up with his second double-play of the day with the Astros still 2-1.

Gordon gave the Astros two more clean innings after that, facing the minimum in the fourth, before he was taken out with one-out and one on in the fifth. That runner would end up scoring to complete his line for the night.

Colton Gordon’s final line:

4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB (1 IBB), 3 K, 85-58 (TP-S)

That last run came around when the new Astros pitcher, Shawn Dubin, allowed a double to the first batter he faced. After that though, they were unhittable. In the 4.2 innings that were thrown by the bullpen in this game, only three Royals hitters reached base, one from a hit and two from a walk.

Houston got one more run across in the bottom of the sixth after back-to-back doubles from Mauricio Dubón and Peña, his third hit of the game, but they still trailed.

That changed in the bottom of the eighth, starting with a Zach Dezenzo one-out single. After Chas McCormick came on to pitch-run for him, Dubón laced his second double of the game into left to tie, scoring Chas from first, before Peña’s fourth hit of the game gave the Astros their first lead of the day, and one they would take to the finish line, 4-3.

This is now the second night in a row that the Astros have been shelled by the Royals starting pitcher. After being held to one run over 6.1 innings on Tuesday by the Royals starter, today’s starter, Michael Lorenzen, was nasty, throwing seven innings of two-run ball, allowing just five hits.

Peña led off the bottom of the first with a single, which was one of four hits for him, and extended his hit-streak to seven games. He continues to be the hottest hitter on the team since moving up to the leadoff spot, now with 46 hits in his last 32 games to help him to his team leading 50 already this season. He also leads the team in AVG (.315), doubles (8), RBI (23), and is tied with Paredes for the team lead in home runs (6).

Despite only being a .500 team, this Astros bullpen has been fantastic this season. They currently are leading the American League with a 2.78 team ERA and a 2.48 ERA when tied or trailing in games entering today’s game, meaning both have only gone down.

The Astros will take this win to Arlington for their first time this season, taking on the Texas Rangers in the four-game series. The first game of that will start at 7:05 PM.