Astros’ Spencer Arrighetti, already dealing with a midseason spiral, exits with trainer
CHICAGO — Ten days before the Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline, a Houston Astros starting rotation already starved for depth saw a distressing sight: Spencer Arrighetti summoning an athletic trainer from the dugout prior to the second inning.
Arrighetti exited the mound at Rate Field after a brief conversation, continuing the right-hander’s confounding, two-month collapse while thrusting Houston’s rotation into a further state of flux.
Arrighetti allowed three runs, hit two batters and walked two more across a 33-pitch first inning against the Chicago White Sox, but never showed any outward signs of discomfort. Pitching coach Josh Miller paid Arrighetti a visit after three batters and Houston’s bullpen began to stir toward the end of the frame, but Arrighetti induced a flyout from nine-hole hitter Drew Romo to stop it.
Before the second inning began, Miller, head athletic trainer Eric Velazquez and manager Joe Espada met Arrighetti on the mound after he threw a few warmup pitches. Arrighetti handed over the baseball and exited the mound without throwing another one.
The forgettable first inning continued a concerning run for Arrighetti, whose hold on a rotation spot felt — at best — tenuous entering the game. The 26-year-old right-hander had a 7.88 ERA in his past eight starts, a stretch in which Arrighetti walked 22 batters in 40 innings.
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That downturn followed a fabulous May from Arrighetti, who earned American League Pitcher of the Month honors after yielding just three earned runs in 29 innings. Little of Arrighetti’s performance since has resembled that, putting his rotation spot in jeopardy while various pitchers worked their way back from injuries.
One of them, Hayden Wesneski, was making his fifth minor-league rehab start on Friday at Triple-A Sugar Land. Presuming Wesneski comes out of that appearance with no issue, he is a logical candidate to take Arrighetti’s place in Houston’s starting rotation, should he miss a turn.
Whether Wesneski’s return will be enough to bolster one of baseball’s worst rotations is a question general manager Dana Brown must ponder across the next two weeks. Brown has maintained that a left-handed hitting outfielder is the team’s foremost trade deadline priority, but it will also search for right-handed relief help.
Perhaps a potential Arrighetti injury will increase the appetite to improve a rotation that entered Friday with baseball’s third-highest ERA.