HOUSTON (SportsRadion610)- Lance McCullers Jr. will make his return to the Astros rotation for Saturday's game against the Oakland Athletics, bench coach Joe Espada announced on Wednesday.
"I'm excited about it," Espada, who is serving as Astros acting manager while Dusty Baker recovers from a bout with COVID-19, said. "He actually just threw a side right now, stuff looked really good."
McCullers missed the start of the season while recovering from the forearm injury he suffered during game four of the American League Division Series in Chicago. He started a rehab assignment last month and made three starts with Triple-A Sugar Land after appearing once for Double-A Corpus Christi, allowing 10 earned runs in 13.1 innings.
"Just really look forward to adding that piece. Super valuable, super good, especially down the stretch," Espada said. "His ability to compete and his ability to win big games, we're really excited about having him back."
The 28-year old finished seventh in Cy Young voting last season after compiling a 3.16 ERA over 162.1 innings. He allowed just one earned run over 10.2 innings in two postseason starts.
