ARLINGTON, Texas — Out of the dugout jumped pitching coach Josh Miller, one of many Houston Astros officials still trying to solve Tatsuya Imai. His first two months as a major leaguer have been littered with learning lessons, both for the pitcher himself and the people trying to coach him.
Imai has taken longer to adjust to a new league and lifestyle than anyone around the Astros could’ve anticipated. That it has coincided with an abysmal start to Houston’s season has demanded heightened aggression to stave off difficult decisions.
On Monday, Miller bounded toward the Globe Life Field mound after two batters. Imai walked both of them. Command has been somewhere between spotty and nonexistent across Imai’s first five major-league starts. Before the sixth could spiral, Miller made a suggestion.
“Maybe,” Miller said, “we go to the sinker to get down in the zone a little bit.”
Upon signing Imai in January, team officials noticed “a pretty large variance” in the shape of his four-seam fastball, Miller said. No one ever stated outright that Imai threw a sinker, but according to Miller, “we assumed he threw both types.” Remember, this is still a learning process, even as summer approaches and stakes grow higher.
“He’s had an almost stoic presence,” Miller said. “I know it might look like he’s rattled, throwing balls, but he’s not. He’s calm. He’s trying to feel his way through it.”
On Memorial Day in Arlington, during Imai’s first taste of Texas’ intrastate baseball rivalry, perhaps this puzzling 28-year-old right-hander started to find his way. After Miller left the mound, Imai allowed just two more Texas Rangers to reach base across the next five innings (both on walks), beginning a bid at history that two of his teammates finished.
Imai spun six hitless innings before Steven Okert and Alimber Santa secured the final nine outs of a 9-0 win and the 18th no-hitter in Astros history. It is the first no-hitter in Major League Baseball since three Chicago Cubs pitchers combined to blank the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sept. 4, 2024.
A Japanese-born pitcher, Shota Imanaga, also started that game. Two relievers then followed him to finish it off. One of them, Nate Pearson, is now an Astro.
“I feel like combined no-hitters are pretty hard,” said Okert, who walked one batter in an otherwise clean seventh. “It’s kind of hard when you’re counting on three guys to all have it in the same day.”
According to ESPN’s Sarah Langs, Houston’s 18 no-hitters are the most thrown by any team since the franchise’s inaugural season in 1962. Ronel Blanco threw the Astros’ last solo no-hitter on April 1, 2024, one of seven Houston no-nos in the past eight seasons.
On Monday, Imai, Okert and Santa teamed to toss the Astros’ fifth combined no-hitter in team history. The last came during Game 4 of the 2022 World Series against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Monday’s feat can’t be called that improbable, but it still arrived almost out of nowhere for the Astros and Imai. Houston’s pitching staff awoke on Monday with the sport’s highest ERA, a byproduct of injuries to most of their season-opening rotation and the ineffectiveness of those who’ve stayed healthy.
“We’ve had some stability,” said Miller, whose staff has a 3.71 ERA in 23 May games. Across the first 32 games, it was 6.08.
Houston Astros players, from left, reliever Alimber Santa, catcher Christian Vázquez, starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai and reliever Steven Okert pose with the game ball after the Astros pitched a combined no-hitter against the Texas Rangers on Monday. (Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)
No one epitomized Houston’s struggles more than Imai, the heralded free-agent addition Houston signed to a three-year, $54 million deal this winter. Struggles adjusting to life on and off the field left him with an 8.31 ERA after his first five major-league starts.
A monthlong stint on the injured list for “arm fatigue” — during which Imai disclosed his inability to acclimate and received a clean bill of health — only put further stress on Houston’s pitching staff. Imai returned to the rotation on May 12, only to implode in a 10-2 loss against the Seattle Mariners that raised furthered questions about his ability to stick in a major-league rotation.
The two starts since have offered some sliver of hope, but perspective is still needed. Texas’ lineup is in tatters, missing Corey Seager, Josh Jung, Wyatt Langford and Josh Smith. Jake Burger received an off day on Monday, too, though he pinch-hit against Okert in the seventh.
Team officials have implored Imai to be more aggressive in the strike zone and to stop “giving hitters too much credit.” Faith that his stuff plays in the major leagues hasn’t always been present for Imai. Miller tried to reiterate it in the first inning on Monday.
“He told me about just keep attacking the zone,” Imai said through an interpreter. “During the pregame, our focus was attacking the zone as always. But in the first inning, I felt unbalanced. The timing was off.”
Imai issued another walk after Miller left the mound. Relievers in the Astros’ bullpen then began to stretch, the first step before someone begins to warm. Imai needed 24 pitches to procure the first three outs. If he had thrown even five or 10 more, he might have been pulled.
“That first inning, you’d have never thought that was going to be the outcome of the game,” manager Joe Espada said. “But I tip my hat to Imai, he pitched and continued to compete.”
“It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective. We’ve got a great defense.”
Seven of Texas’ 14 batted balls against Imai were struck 95 mph or harder. Center fielder Jake Meyers made two magnificent running catches to take away well-struck line drives. Shortstop Jeremy Peña took a third-inning single away from Joc Pederson with a wonderful diving play behind the bag.
“When I saw the play I thought ‘Oh, this is the Golden Glove shortstop,’” Imai said through an interpreter.
Imai’s progress must be measured in increments. He has thrown 64.3 percent of his pitches for strikes across his last two starts. Manipulating his fastball grip has generated more groundball contact — he received eight groundouts on Monday — and allowed him to stay inside the strike zone.
The contact is hard, but if it is on the ground toward an elite infield, this can be sustainable. It’s why the sinker will be so valuable. According to public pitch data, Imai never unleashed the sinker during spring training or his first four starts.
Imai introduced it in the middle of his start against the Mariners, but afterward just attributed it to a grip change and not an attempt to throw a different pitch. After the visit on Monday in which Miller suggested using it, Imai threw 46 of his final 73 pitches for strikes.
“Everywhere I pitch it’s probably going to be my first time pitching in those stadiums,” Imai said. “I tend to try to figure out how to use the mound in the first inning, but moving forward, I want to adjust a little bit faster into the first inning, able to find the zone and attacking the zone.”
Though Imai threw the first eight innings of a combined no-hitter last season in NPB, on Monday night he could only recall throwing one as a middle schooler. Imai asked his interpreter, Shio Enomoto, whether the duo should even go into the dugout during the ninth inning.
“I was thinking it would be awkward if we (gave up) a hit after two outs,” Imai said.
Santa struck out Brandon Nimmo to squash any such thought. When he did, Imai spilled from the dugout alongside his delirious teammates. A mob scene formed near the pitcher’s mound, featuring a team finally harnessing some momentum and a starting pitcher, perhaps, beginning to discover he belongs.