Houston Astros bullpen and its year-long struggles against the Athletics

The Houston Astros have the second-best bullpen in the league. But whenever relieves face off against the Oakland Athletics, they don’t look very dominant. That continued in their previous series against them earlier this week.

The Houston Astros own a top-five bullpen in the MLB. But the relief corps struggled in its past series earlier this week.

And it was against the Athletics, surprisingly the bullpen’s biggest nightmare this year.   

Oakland is the hottest team in baseball right now, winning 18 of its last 23 games. Thus, it’s unfair to say Houston’s relievers were the root cause of the club’s series loss.

Nevertheless, it was the first time this season that the relief crew surrendered more than one run in four-straight affairs. Even if the bullpen wasn’t at fault, it still underperformed against a division rival.

Much of the attention fell on closer Ken Giles, who was demoted to Triple-A after another late-inning collapse. Yet he wasn’t the only reliever to flounder in critical situations.

Brad Peacock allowed a go-ahead run in the series opener Monday. But Houston’s offense failed to score a run – just the sixth time this season that occurred.

Three different relievers relinquished runs in an 11-inning marathon the next evening. The issue with the meltdown was that the Astros led by three runs heading into the last inning. But even Hector Rondon and Collin McHugh didn’t look flawless in the bout.

Lance McCullers’ short outing in Game 3 overshadowed another another subpar performance from the pen. And Chris Devenski, who yielded three runs in the finale, capped off the worst series of the year for the pen.

The four-game span increased the Astros relievers’ ERA by .22 runs, which is significant considering it was at a minute 2.63. The Athletics own better numbers against Houston’s pen than essentially all other 28 teams.

Houston still has six games against them in the second half too.

A little about Cionel

The Astros promoted Cionel Perez when they sent Giles down. And the top-10 prospect seemed poised to be more productive.

His first career outing wasn’t anything special, as he allowed a run in 1 2/3 innings of work. But he did whiff two batters, showing off a nasty slider and strong fastball.

Perez isn’t a highly-touted relief prospect, but he was an above-average starter in the minors. The 22-year-old posted a sub-2.00 ERA with 83 strikeouts across 68 1/3 innings.

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Yet, his biggest issue was relevant in his lone outing – command.

While the Cuban’s repertoire is solid and his fastball has bite, he needs accuracy to flummox opposing hitters. He boasts three worthy pitches, but he needs to master his pitch placement.

Nevertheless, rumors claim Perez may not remain in Houston throughout the summer. As the Astros seek another bullpen arm and catcher, Perez is a likely candidate to be dealt.

It makes sense, considering 17 of the team’s top 30 prospects are pitchers. And they are all at a variety of different stages in their development.

Perez’s competition lies against fellow starters like Rogelio Armenteros and Hector Perez. Perez is ultimately a more valuable pitcher in the long-term.

Next: Houston might trade for one of these catchers

Yet, Houston probably wouldn’t mind parting ways with him in order to gain help for a second-straight title.