Looks like Justin Verlander’s great start was a false dawn. Despite their 41-year-old motivating the Houston Astros, the team once again collapsed right as they were ready to take off. What’s even more baffling is that they’ve once again followed the script of their past losses – Lead in the beginning and lose by the end. As a result, a top Astros insider has called out three players for failing to step up when they needed to.

The key issue plaguing the Astronauts has been the ineffectual performance of their bullpen. Despite the hitters being in fine form, the lack of adequate support from the pitchers has led to one of the worst starts for the Astros in some time. What’s more surprising is that Josh Hader has been at the center of this fiasco – the pitcher they paid $95 million to this season. That has led to some tough questions being asked of him and the rest of the staff.

Michael Connor broke down the Astros’ loss to the Nations on his Locked On Astros Postcast. Connor looked visibly frustrated and had some harsh words for some of the team’s pitchers. “Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, Ryan Pressly – all three of those guys this season have been atrocious. Absolutely atrocious!” Connor said. However, he specifically singled out Bryan Abreu for some harsh critique.

“Bryan Abreu this season has had one outing where he’s had a clean inning, one! This is a guy that’s got some of the best stuff you’ve seen in out of a reliever arms in baseball…But one outing so far this year for Brian Abreu. It’s not acceptable!” Connor made his frustrations known.

This is an issue that has plagued the Astros since the beginning of the season. Ironically they’ve always been a team whose strength lies in its defense. But this season there’s a different story brewing. 

Houston Astros’ newfound habit of snatching loss from the jaws of victory

Saturday was the fifth time this season that the Astros’ bullpen has blown their lead. During last night’s game, the Nationals were trailing by two runs in the 9th inning. However, Ryan Pressly’s closing inning proved to be anything but that. The Nats erased the Astros’ lead and suddenly the game was going into the extra innings. Once again the Astronauts’ rocket crashed due to their own malfunction.

This isn’t a great sign for a team that’s aiming to play its third straight ALCS this season. Could the bullpen be the Achilles heel for the Astros? Possibly it could be. But how do they solve this? As of now, the team looks out of options and that’s scary for the Astros fans. However, other teams in AL West aren’t doing any better. That is certainly a great silver lining for the currently struggling Houston Astros or is it the only one they have?

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