Houston Astros Enjoy Success Against Left-Handed Starters Like Texas Rangers' Jordan Montgomery

The Houston Astros hit .270 against left-hander pitchers during the regular season.

The most effective pitcher for the Texas Rangers since the trade deadline has been Jordan Montgomery, so it’s no surprise the sturdy left-hander is getting the ball against the Houston Astros to open the American league Championship Series on Sunday night.

The Astros are starting Justin Verlander in Game 1 at Minute Made Park.

The Astros are expecting a challenge from Montgomery in the opener.

“He’s pretty good,” Houston manager Dusty Baker said Saturday. “He’s been very good. He was good in St. Louis and he’s been good here in Texas. He knows how to pitch. And probably they went with who was the freshest and who was the strongest at this time.”

Houston’s Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker both hit around .300 against left-handed pitchers this season / © Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Since coming over the Cardinals right before the deadline, Montgomery has been a stabilizing force for the Rangers. He had two starts in the playoffs, going 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA.

Montgomery threw seven scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card round before battling through four innings and allowing five runs in Game 2 of the ALDS with the Baltimore Orioles.

He hasn’t pitched in a week.

“We have to use a good approach, get on base, and just win the game,” Astros second baseman Jose Altuve said. “He has good pitches, two-seam, change-up, curveball, so basically find a way to hit him.”

The Astros traditionally hit left-handers well, compiling a slash line of .270/.339/.470/.809 during the regular season. Houston is hitting .500 (3-6) against lefties in the postseason.

Houston’s Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker have also defied conventional lefty-lefty approach, both hitting around .300 during the regular season against southpaws.

“Just depends on who the left-handed pitchers are,” Baker said. “I mean, [the Rangers] pose some problems, they’ve got like five or six of them. It’s different when they have one and I can stack [left-handed hitters] back-to-back. But if they’ve got five or six of them, and they bring them in fourth [inning], sixth, seventh, eighth, whenever, that’s a problem for anybody.”

In addition to Montgomery, the Rangers have several other left-hander who figure to be on the ALCS roster, including Andrew Heaney, Martín Pérez and Aroldis Chapman.

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