Report: Astros still interested in Trevor Larnach

Larnach had gone hitless in his last three starts and was 8-for-33 with two extra-base hits since the break, but he’s still having a nice season on the whole. His current .373 OBP is a full 50 points ahead of his career mark from his first five years.

Josh Hader had this one off after pitching the previous two days and four of the last five. Fortunately, though, Abreu is back in pretty good form now after his horrendous start to the year. He has a 2.20 ERA in 30 appearances since the beginning of June, though his 32/13 K/BB in 28 2/3 innings still isn’t quite reminiscent of how he performed the previous four years.

Larnach actually started on the bench, but wound up with three at-bats against Cleveland’s relievers after Gavin Williams left. Larnach is hitting .391/.440/.696 in his last seven games and .294/.383/.460 overall in what has been a nice bounceback season, even if he only plays against right-handers.

That’s odd, especially after The Athletic’s Dan Hayes just wrote about Larnach potentially being available in trade. However, it probably has something to do with the fact that Larnach is 0-for-12 against Cleveland starter Gavin Williams in his career. The Twins have Austin Martin starting in Larnach’s place in left field today. Brooks Lee is leading off.

Covering for Josh Hader who’d pitched in three of the Astros’ last four games, Abreu easily dispatched of the Marlins here. It was his first save since June 13th as Hader hasn’t missed a beat since returning from injury, so don’t expect any more save chances unless there’s a major shakeup in this bullpen at the trade deadline.

Statcast says the homer, a 360-foot liner to right off Tim Hill, would have left four ballparks, which doesn’t even account for it getting a little help from the wind blowing out to right at Yankee Stadium today. It was just the 14th regular (non-inside the park) homer with a launch angle 18 degrees of lower this season. Still, it was an impressive 106-mph drive from Larnach in a matchup with a quality left-handed reliever. It was his sixth career homer against a southpaw. He’s 5-for-28 with two homers against lefties while serving as a platoon player this year.

Abreu was given three days off to take care of a personal matter. The right-hander will be a bridge to closer Josh Hader, but he has not been effective whatsoever in 2026 as seen in a 6.39 ERA and 1.82 WHIP over his 25 1/3 innings.

Abreu lost any semblance of fantasy value once closer Josh Hader returned from the injured list a couple weeks ago. The 29-year-old has struggled to a career-worst 6.39 ERA, 1.82 WHIP and 33/24 K/BB ratio across 25 1/3 innings this season. It’s unclear when he’ll return at this juncture given his rather nebulous placement on the restricted list with Astros manager Joe Espada telling reporters they’re giving Abreu some time off to take care of a personal matter.

Larnach also was able to put down his first career sac bunt after the D-backs brought in a lefty to face him in the sixth inning today. It didn’t lead to a run, but that’s a worthwhile tactic for Larnach against lefties, considering he’s hitting just .148 against them this season and .210/.272/.305 for his career. Fortunately, Larnach has been strong enough against righties that he’s hitting .281/.378/.427 overall this year.

Larnach started only two of the three games against the Rangers, but he went 7-for-11 with two homers in the series sweep. He entered with just three homers on the season, even though he’s been better than usual when it comes to average and, especially, OBP. Almost exclusively a platoon guy this season, he’s at .273/.373/.417 through 217 plate appearances.