Jose Altuve actually is one of the few Astros hitters in the midst of a good stretch, but he and the team were shut down by the Angels in Tuesday’s series opener.
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Taxing opposing starters is a Houston Astros offensive tenet. Even if he limits damage, the thinking goes, getting into a team’s bullpen can change the tenor of a game and have ripple effects throughout a series. Just five teams in the majors entered Tuesday with a higher OPS this season against starting pitching.
The opener of a series against the Angels started auspiciously on that front. Two Astros reached base in the first inning against George Klassen, a right-hander making his fifth major-league start Tuesday night at Daikin Park. Klassen stranded them in a scoreless first, but he needed 20 pitches to navigate it.
Promise vanished quickly. Klassen cruised through his next five innings on 48 pitches. He threw nine or fewer in five of them. Three of his previous four Angels starts had comprised four or fewer innings. He completed seven scoreless against the Astros, who did not muster a hit against Klassen after the first.
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The showing in a 3-1 loss echoed a few recent ones for the Astros’ offense against opposing starters. In Sunday’s loss to Seattle, Bryan Woo worked six innings on 75 pitches. A night earlier, Emerson Hancock completed seven innings in a Mariners win.
Houston did get to George Kirby, its longtime nemesis, who allowed five runs and threw 99 pitches in 4 ⅔ innings Friday. Yet two days before, in the finale of a series against the Giants, Adrian Houser threw six scoreless innings against the Astros on 73 pitches.
“We’ve seen better” efforts against opposing starters, manager Joe Espada said Tuesday night. “But I thought this kid (Klassen), the stuff was good. The fastball and slider were close enough to the zone where I saw why we were kind of swinging at some of those pitches.
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“But we are best when we just get the starting pitcher out of the game. We’ve got to make them work, we’ve got to drive that pitch count up so we can actually dictate the game. We cannot let the pitcher dictate and we’ve got to control the at-bats, we’ve got to control the momentum of the game.”
BATTERS
AVG
OBA
AB
R
H
2B
3B
HR
RBI
BB
SO
SB
CS
E
Team Totals
.243
.318
4244
577
1030
183
13
169
550
421
1021
40
17
55
Alvarez
.318
.431
450
82
143
25
0
36
88
86
94
1
0
2
Peña
.284
.339
310
59
88
14
1
14
40
21
68
8
1
9
Correa
.279
.369
122
22
34
8
0
3
16
18
26
1
0
1
Delgado
.273
.314
33
3
9
1
0
1
4
2
5
0
0
2
Paredes
.259
.352
436
47
113
21
1
16
67
48
69
0
0
6
Allen
.259
.301
112
20
29
4
0
2
13
7
24
2
0
5
Shewmake
.256
.272
78
10
20
4
0
3
9
2
13
0
0
2
Diaz
.252
.280
234
25
59
9
0
8
28
9
38
0
1
2
Altuve
.246
.311
386
56
95
15
2
13
36
35
86
4
2
5
Walker
.232
.309
449
61
104
24
1
23
71
42
119
0
0
0
Harris
.226
.286
31
4
7
0
1
0
4
2
6
2
0
0
Smith
.223
.292
403
54
90
15
3
17
46
35
109
10
2
5
Wade
.222
.351
81
11
18
4
0
2
15
16
20
0
0
0
Trammell
.219
.308
178
26
39
6
2
7
20
19
65
3
3
2
Vázquez
.216
.271
208
20
45
7
0
6
24
16
43
1
0
0
Loperfido
.216
.314
102
13
22
7
1
1
12
14
31
1
1
1
Meyers
.213
.268
141
15
30
7
0
3
11
10
31
1
2
0
Dezenzo
.213
.280
75
11
16
4
0
1
3
7
31
1
0
1
Matthews
.197
.250
208
23
41
5
1
7
22
15
71
4
4
1
Price
.167
.231
12
1
2
1
0
0
0
1
6
0
0
1
Spence
.162
.244
37
4
6
1
0
0
3
3
15
0
1
1
Cole
.157
.189
51
4
8
1
0
3
8
1
21
0
0
1
Johnson
.143
.294
14
1
2
0
0
0
0
2
3
0
0
0
Whitcomb
.130
.167
23
2
3
0
0
2
5
1
11
0
0
0
Varsho
.125
.222
48
3
6
0
0
1
3
6
12
1
0
0
Salazar
.056
.227
18
0
1
0
0
0
1
3
3
0
0
0
Velázquez
.000
.000
4
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
___
PITCHERS
W
L
ERA
G
GS
SV
IP
H
R
ER
HR
BB
SO
Team Totals
63
63
4.57
126
126
38
1118.1
1001
609
568
168
518
1098
Meyers
0
0
0.00
1
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
Hader
4
1
0.90
31
0
17
30
13
3
3
1
10
41
Santa
0
1
1.17
10
0
0
15.1
8
6
2
1
6
9
VanWey
1
0
1.50
5
0
0
6
5
2
1
0
0
5
Okert
6
1
2.04
61
1
0
61.2
40
15
14
6
12
62
Lambert
8
6
3.11
21
21
0
118.2
91
42
41
12
46
117
Blubaugh
4
2
3.39
47
0
1
77
59
31
29
10
33
77
Pearson
1
0
3.60
16
0
1
20
16
10
8
1
12
16
Brown
3
3
3.67
13
13
0
68.2
49
30
28
9
40
72
Sousa
0
1
3.86
17
0
0
14
14
8
6
2
8
16
King
2
3
4.01
50
1
6
51.2
52
25
23
7
19
43
De Los Santos
2
3
4.14
55
0
5
58.2
55
31
27
7
13
53
Teng
5
6
4.35
25
10
0
68.1
62
37
33
10
30
67
Abreu
4
3
4.40
48
0
7
45
32
24
22
7
33
57
Ullola
0
0
4.50
4
0
0
6
4
3
3
2
1
9
Arrighetti
7
5
4.60
17
17
0
88
68
47
45
12
50
87
Wesneski
2
1
5.16
4
4
0
22.2
23
13
13
2
7
18
Roa
0
1
5.19
7
0
0
8.2
10
5
5
1
7
6
Imai
6
4
5.29
17
15
0
64.2
53
38
38
9
42
80
Bolton
0
1
5.40
8
3
1
20
21
12
12
3
14
22
Burrows
4
9
5.99
18
17
0
94.2
112
69
63
21
35
75
Javier
1
4
6.44
11
7
0
36.1
44
26
26
7
17
30
McCullers
2
3
6.86
8
8
0
39.1
38
32
30
7
22
43
Murray
0
0
7.43
8
0
0
13.1
19
11
11
1
7
8
Weiss
0
3
7.62
9
2
0
26
35
24
22
8
20
30
Blanco
0
1
7.71
5
4
0
23.1
22
20
20
7
12
20
France
0
0
8.10
3
0
0
6.2
6
6
6
1
5
4
Salazar
0
0
9.00
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
Alexander
1
1
9.33
4
2
0
18.1
21
19
19
4
8
14
Gordon
0
0
11.57
4
1
0
9.1
21
12
12
6
3
11
Muñoz
0
0
15.75
3
0
0
4
7
7
7
3
6
6
Doing that less has been one element of a mid-August dip for the Astros offense. Tuesday marked the seventh time in 13 games they have scored two or fewer runs. They are 5-8 in that stretch, emerging from a series-opening loss to the Angels with their AL West lead down to one game over Texas.
Opposing starters have a 2.84 ERA against them in that span. They have faced several proven starters during it — Toronto’s Shane Bieber, San Diego’s Michael King, Seattle’s arms. They scored four runs off Robbie Ray in the left-hander’s Padres debut.
In San Francisco, they saw two pitchers, Blade Tidwell and Carson Whisenhunt, making their fourth and 11th major-league starts, respectively. Each threw 5 ⅔ innings and allowed one run. Klassen had a 5.52 ERA in his first four starts for the Angels.
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“It’s baseball, things happen,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said. “All we can control is our preparation going into the game and have a great plan going into the game.”
Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros’ Taylor Trammell (26) flips his bat after striking out during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros’ Christian Walker reacts after striking out against the Los Angeles Angels during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher George Klassen throws against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros’ Jeremy Peña walks back to the dugout after striking out against the Los Angeles Angels during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros’ Jeremy Peña (3) flips his bat after striking out as Los Angeles Angels catcher Tyler Heineman throws the ball back to the infield during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Los Angeles Angels’ Nolan Schanuel (18) scores as Houston Astros catcher Yainer Diaz stands in front of home plate during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Los Angeles Angels’ Zach Neto hits a RBI double against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Los Angeles Angels’ Wade Meckler, bottom, steals second base as Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) reaches for the ball during the third inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher George Klassen throws against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith catches a fly ball by Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston Astros starting pitcher Cristian Javier throws against the Los Angeles Angels during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
David J. Phillip/Associated Press
Houston has won three of its past nine games. In two, it was down to its final strike before rallying against an opposing bullpen. In another, the Giants opened the door to a comeback with a cataclysmic defensive inning. Espada often praises his team’s resilience, but relying on it nightly is a risky approach.
Earlier offense would mitigate it. But the bottom line is the Astros’ lineup is largely struggling. Over their past 13 games, they are averaging 3.8 runs with a .218 batting average and 13 home runs. Peña, their leadoff man and sparkplug, is 6-for-55 in that stretch. Yordan Alvarez is batting .213 with one home run.
“I don’t think it’s fair to start there,” Espada said. “We need contributions from everyone.”
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That is inarguable. Isaac Paredes is batting .298 and Jose Altuve is hitting .357 across the Astros’ last 13 games. Cam Smith, compiling maybe his best stretch of the season, is batting .333 with four home runs but slotted in the eighth spot in the order for the fifth time in seven games Tuesday.
Trade addition Daulton Varsho, who has the Astros’ third-most plate appearances in their past 13 games, is batting .125 in that stretch. Christian Walker has a .178 average and Taylor Trammell a .121 mark. The Astros are hitting .355 with runners in scoring position in that span but have totaled six or fewer such at-bats in seven of 13 games, creating fewer chances on which to capitalize.
They recorded one such at-bat Tuesday. In the first inning, Paredes worked a two-out walk and Altuve flared a single into right field. Klassen got Varsho to chase a slider in the dirt for strike three to end the inning. Klassen did not allow another runner beyond first base in his seven innings.
“I thought our at-bats got better towards the end of the game,” Espada said. “We’ve got to give credit to Klassen. It’s good stuff, he threw the ball really well. Our at-bats just got better towards the end. We could have walked a few more times. I thought that we could have done a better job just trying to get in better hitter’s counts early in the game.”
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With Klassen at 86 pitches, the Angels went to their bullpen in the eighth. Houston promptly threatened. Smith crushed José Fermin’s third pitch for a home run. Yainer Diaz lined a single to bring up the possible tying run. Fermin induced a fielder’s choice grounder from Peña.
The Angels deployed right-hander Ryan Watson to face Alvarez, who got ahead 3-0 but took a full-count fastball for strike three. Watson retired Paredes on a fly out to end the inning, and Ben Joyce retired the Astros in order in the ninth, finalizing a loss in which they totaled 10 strikeouts and three hits.
“Today was a tough day,” Peña said. “But overall, I think the team’s in good spirits, hitters are in good spirits. And yeah, show up tomorrow.”