Houston Astros manager reveals polarizing lineup adjustment against Mariners
CHANGE CAN BE A GOOD THING
28 May 2024
Alex Bregman will hit 5th on Tuesday night against Seattle. Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images.
Coming off a tough loss on Monday night, the Astros will be making some adjustments to the batting order for Tuesday night's game in Seattle.
Houston manager Joe Espada made his weekly appearance on the Astros flagship station and said he plans on moving Alex Bregman down to fifth in the lineup.
The Astros against Luis Castillo: Altuve 4, Tucker 9, Alvarez 7, Peña 6, Bregman 5, Meyers 8, Singleton DH, Abreu 3, Diaz 2
Brown RHP
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) May 28, 2024
Bregman has three hits in his last 30 at-bats, with zero home runs and just 2 RBIs. The last time Bregman was dropped in the order (May 13) he hit sixth against the A's and responded with a huge two home run game.
The following day, he hit fifth and recorded another home run. After that, Bregman returned to the cleanup role, and has yet to hit another dinger.
Perhaps moving Bregman back down will get his bat going once again. Many questioned at the time why Espada would move Bregman back to fourth if he was producing in the five or six spot. Why mess with a good thing? But here we are, moving Bregman back down just two weeks later.
Hopefully, this could provide another spark that could help propel the Astros to a series win over Seattle.
On the bright side
Espada said in his interview today that Luis Garcia is ahead of schedule in his Tommy John rehab and could begin facing hitters soon. If that goes well, rehab starts could be right around the corner. This could be critical to the team's success if Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier continue to miss time with forearm discomfort.
Romy Gonzalez homered over the Green Monster on the first pitch faced by a Boston batter, Trevor Story added a two-run shot, and the Red Sox beat the Houston Astros 7-3 on Saturday.
Abraham Toro added a two-run drive — one of three homers the Red Sox hit over Fenway Park’s fabled left-field wall — and Story added an RBI double as Boston won its third straight.
Houston’s Christian Walker homered for the second straight day, a two-run shot off Walker Buehler in the first inning.
The benches and bullpens cleared when Astros reliever Héctor Neris yelled at the Red Sox dugout and third-base coach Kyle Hudson at the end of the seventh. But order was quickly restored.
You can watch what happened in the video below.
Benches clear in Boston after Hector Neris intentionally balked Trevor Story to third base because he thought Story was relaying signs. Neris had words for the Red Sox third base coach coming off the field pic.twitter.com/MxWccFu7F9
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) August 2, 2025
After beating the AL West leaders on Roman Anthony’s walk-off single in the series opener on Friday night, the Red Sox erased a quick 2-0 deficit when Story hit his drive in a three-run third against Colton Gordon (4-4) that pushed Boston ahead 4-2.
Story’s shot hit the top of a billboard over the Monster seats and bounced out of Fenway after Rob Refsnyder’s RBI single.
Justin Wilson (3-1) came on in the fifth inning with runners on second and third with Boston leading 6-3 and struck out the only two batters he faced. Aroldis Chapman got the final two outs for his 20th save.
Gordon gave up six runs in four-plus innings.
Key moment
The Astros loaded the bases in the eighth against Jordan Hicks, but Carlos Correa struck out looking on a 99 mph fastball.
Key stat
Boston’s bullpen went 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
Up next
Astros LHP Framber Valdez (11-4, 2.62 ERA) is set to face Red Sox RHP Lucas Giolito (7-2, 3.80) on Sunday in the series finale.
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