When Houston Astros starting pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. was ruled out of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox, fans believed that the team had an adequate of pitchers to get them to the World Series where he could make a possible return.

With the likes of Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia, and Jose Urquidy taking the mound, Houston figured that they could go no worse than 2-1 in those games started. Especially with the amount of offense their lineup can generate.

On paper, that looks great. On the field in the last three games, it has looked atrocious. Houston lost 12-3 to the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the ALCS to fall behind 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Once again, the starting pitcher could not put together consecutive innings that cost the Astros the game.

Starting pitcher Jose Urquidy needed only 11 pitches to cruise through the Red Sox lineup in the first inning but ran into trouble in the bottom of the second inning. After striking out Xander Bogaerts on three straight pitches, Urquidy battled Alex Verdugo before finally walking him on 11-pitches.

That walked opened the flood gates as the Red Sox would load the bases after taking a 2-0 lead, and first baseman Kyle Scwarber cleared them with a grand slam, which was the third of the series for Boston. Urquidy would put two more runners on base before he was finally removed from the game by manager Dusty Baker and replaced by reliever Yimi Garcia.

“It's kind of like Groundhog Day, a recurring nightmare where you hope to get some innings out of these guys,” said Baker as he has witnessed his pitchers get in trouble early in games. “You hope they can get out of the inning and then take him as far as you can take him.”

The Red Sox have been hot throughout the postseason and have turned into an inferno in the ALCS. They have amassed 33 hits to go along with 25 runs over the first three games. In the process, they became the first team in MLB history to hit three grand slam home runs in one series. The Atlanta Braves was the only other team to have as many in the postseason in 1998.

The starting pitchers for Houston in the first three games of the series only lasted 5 1/3 innings, which is less time than Red Sox Game 3 starter Eduardo Rodriguez lasted on Monday night when he went six innings for Boston. The inefficiency is causing a strain on the Astros bullpen which has covered 20 2/3 innings in the ALCS.

Astros manager Dusty Baker needs his starters to last longer to get his bullpen some rest. He may have to call upon them again on Tuesday as Zack Greinke will be taking the mound as a starter for the first time since September 19 as he battled COVID-19 related symptoms and neck issues.

“You're asking everybody to do probably a lot more than you would ever ask them to do, multiple innings, back-to-back days,” said Baker. “You know, we need some zeros out there for an extended period of time, and hopefully, we'll get that tomorrow.”