The Astros announced that right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 16th, due to right shoulder inflammation. Fellow righty Nate Pearson has been reinstated from the 15-day IL in a corresponding move. Houston also reinstated outfielder Jake Meyers from the 10-day IL and optioned infielder/outfielder Shay Whitcomb.
McCullers was the scheduled starter for tonight’s game but the club announced a few hours ago that he had been scratched, with Jason Alexander to take the ball tonight instead. Though this was a last-minute scratch, manager Joe Espada said McCullers has been dealing with shoulder pain for “a while,” per Chandler Rome of The Athletic. It’s unclear how much time McCullers will miss, as he is heading to Houston for more testing.
Injuries have been a big part of recent history for McCullers. He missed the 2023 and 2024 seasons due a flexor injury that required surgery. He was back on the mound in 2025 and made 16 appearances, but with diminished velocity and a 6.51 earned run average. Here in 2026, he has a 6.86 ERA in eight starts.
Though he doesn’t appear to be the same pitcher he was before the injuries set him back, it’s still a blow for the Astros. The club has been hit real hard by injuries this year. In the rotation, Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are each on the IL due to shoulder strains. The club is still waiting for Ronel Blanco, Brandon Walter and Hayden Wesneski to return from last year’s Tommy John surgeries.
Around those injuries and others, they have had to rely upon almost every depth option available. They have also been trying to deploy a six-man rotation at various times, both due to the schedule and trying to manage the workload of Tatsuya Imai. 12 different pitchers have already made starts for the club. Some of those have been openers but the club has clearly been churning through guys. Though McCullers doesn’t have good numbers, removing him from the equation just means they will have to keep reaching deeper when they’ve already fallen to 19-30 on the year.
As mentioned, Alexander is taking the ball tonight. That could be a spot start or he could stick around for another turn. Mike Burrows is the scheduled starter tomorrow. The Astros are off on Thursday, which is perhaps a chance to recover and reset before they play ten days in a row.
Burrows, Imai, Spencer Arrighetti, Peter Lambert and Kai-Wei Teng are in the rotation at the moment. If Alexander doesn’t stick around, they have Miguel Ullola, Colton Gordon and Ryan Weiss on optional assignment at Triple-A. Ullola has a 6.03 ERA and 16.8% walk rate in Triple-A this year. The Astros haven’t trusted him enough to call him up at any other point this season, despite really needing arms. Gordon and Weiss got some MLB time earlier this year but both posted ERAs north of 7.00 in those looks. Rome floats the possibility of calling up Ethan Pecko, who has a 2.21 ERA on the farm this year, though he’s not yet on the 40-man roster.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
