This shocking Astros fact may be a reason behind 2026 struggles

Story by

Alex House, ClutchPoints

Sat, May 2, 2026 at 11:37 PM UTC ·

1 min read

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An injury-ravaged pitching staff is unsurprisingly a major cause for the Houston Astros ’ early shortcomings, but besides owning an MLB-worst 5.93 ERA entering Saturday’s game against the Boston Red Sox , this unit is alarmingly having immense trouble in one specific area .

The Astros have now walked the No. 9 hitter in an opposing lineup 20 times this season, which is more than any other team, according to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart. Some offenses are obviously deeper than others, but pitchers must be able to retire the player who is typically deemed a club’s weakest hitter. Otherwise, they have little hope of navigating the top-half of the batting order.

This statistic underscores just how much Houston hurlers have struggled through the first month of the 2026 campaign. Spencer Arrighetti is the only active starting pitcher manager Joe Espada can truly trust right now. Despite posting five walks versus Boston, the 26-year-old righty allowed just one run in five innings of work and now has a 1.96 ERA through four starts.

Cy Young finalist Hunter Brown and offseason acquisition Tatsuya Imai are working their way back from a shoulder strain and arm fatigue, respectively, and there is no telling when 2022 World Series hero Cristian Javier or 2024 breakout Ronel Blanco will come off the injured list. Closer Josh Hader is also recovering from left biceps tendinitis. Misfortune is terrorizing this ballclub.

The Astros cannot blame all their problems on bad luck, however. Big-league pitchers must figure out how to best the nine-hole hitter. Houston is already contending with enough adversity. It does not need to make life even harder for itself by giving free bases to unproductive batters.