HOUSTON — Jose Altuve and Lance McCullers Jr., the lone remaining members of the Astros’ 2017 World Series championship team, turned back the clock Thursday night at Daikin Park.
McCullers flashed his best stuff of the season, striking out eight batters in 4 1/3 innings in his fourth start of the year, and Altuve walloped a pair of homers to lead the Astros to a 9-2 win in the series opener against the American League West-leading Mariners.
McCullers, making his second home start of the season and first since he allowed seven runs in one-third of an inning against the Reds on May 10, recorded his most strikeouts since Sept. 21, 2022. He got 14 whiffs — six on the slider and five on the curveball. He threw a season-high 91 pitches and worked into the fifth for the first time this year.
“I felt much better the last two games,” McCullers said. “I felt like I’ve had really solid game plans. I think [catcher Victor] Caratini’s done a great job keeping me on script, just making sure we’re attacking guys how we want. I think today, and last start as well, was a solid indication of just executing game plans. We keep progressing.”
Altuve, who entered the game in a 3-for-29 slump, hit a sacrifice fly in the third, led off the fifth with a home run — his first since April 28, a span of 80 at-bats — and blasted a two-run homer in the sixth that put the Astros ahead, 8-3. It was his 12th multihomer game and first since April 14, 2023.
“He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” McCullers said. “Nothing he does really surprises me anymore; I’ve been watching him for 10-plus years. I think the great thing about Altuve is just the day-in-and-day-out attitude that he constantly brings to the park. There’s no doubt, you can tell he’s been not getting the results he wanted, but he comes to the field every single day and is a great person to lean on in this clubhouse.”
The admiration is mutual.
“He’s worked hard these last two years to come back and be healthy and pitch, and I think he got [four] starts right now and he keeps getting better and better every time,” Altuve said. “I know he’s going to get to the point where he’s going to be 100 percent and he’s going to help us win a lot of games.”
McCullers had trouble finding the strike zone early, walking J.P. Crawford on four pitches to start the game before striking out Jorge Polanco and Cal Raleigh — Seattle’s best two hitters statistically this season. He struck out that pair again to end the second, beginning a run where he retired nine of 10 batters, including six by strikeout.
The way the Mariners were swinging through his sliders, curves, cutters and changeups was a reminder of how good McCullers’ stuff is. The final pitch he threw, an 0-2 fastball that Randy Arozarena hit into center field for a single, was his fastest of the night at 94.3 mph.
“When he’s ahead in the count, he’s got so many weapons, just to keep hitters on their heels and you get a ton of whiffs,” manager Joe Espada said. “That’s what he did towards the end of the game. He got control of the game by controlling at-bats. His stuff continues to get better. We’re just working on cutting down on some walks and getting the ball in the box. When he’s ahead in the count, he’s got really, really good stuff.”
Altuve, meanwhile, has been hitting the ball on the ground this year at rates he hasn’t seen since his first full year in the big leagues in 2012. He had a 53.1% ground-ball rate entering Friday’s game, so hitting three balls in the air to drive in runs was significant.
“That’s my biggest problem this year, obviously, is hitting the ball on the ground,” he said. “I’m trying to hit the ball in the air. Today happened, but I have to go one game at a time and keep working on that.”
Altvue grounded out in the first inning before hitting a sac fly with two strikes to right field in the third. That opened the eyes of Espada, who said Altuve is at his best when he’s driving balls in the air.
“He’s unstoppable when he does that,” he said. “Those are things I’m looking for from Altuve.”
