Houston Astros right-hander Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese pitcher in MLB, is slated to start against the Baltimore Orioles today as the team handle a pitching shortage.
The news was first reported by Chandler Rome, an Astros beat reporter at The Athletic, in a social media post on Monday. Teng’s name has been listed as the team’s starter on the MLB Web site.
The arrangement came after Astros general manager Dana Brown acknowledged that the team had internal discussions on whether to move the team’s most consistent pitcher out of the bullpen on Wednesday last week, citing Teng’s “2-2/3 really quality innings” against the Cleveland Guardians a day before, his longest outing of the season.
Photo: AP
“Phenomenal,” Astros manager Joe Espada was cited as saying by MLB.com on Saturday.
“Just to bridge to the back end of our bullpen, [effective against] both righties and lefties, can create swing and miss. I really like what he’s done in that bullpen,” the manager added.
So far, Teng has established himself as the most reliable arm in the Astros’ bullpen, posting a 2.16 earned run average (ERA) over 16-2/3 innings pitched with 16 strikeouts and a 0.90 walks plus hits per inning pitched.
The outing in the three-game series opener at Oriole Park is going to be the 27-year-old Taiwanese’s first start since he was traded to Houston by the San Francisco Giants in January, as the Astros seek to address their injury-ridden pitching staff.
As of press time last night, the Astros had an MLB-worst 5.97 team ERA.
In his two seasons with the Giants, Teng mainly served as a long reliever in 2024 and started seven of his eight outings last year, tossing an average of 51 pitches per game in 2024 and 71.6 last year. So far this year, he has only averaged 23.4 pitches per game with the Astros.
Today’s start tests his ability to make quick in-season adjustments, although he is not expected to toss as many pitches as last season.
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