Colton

Gordon

Gordon started against the Rockies on Tuesday and seemed like the leading candidate to start Monday against the Guardians, but that has to be off the table now. He might be sent down in exchange for a fresh arm.

Gordon struck out the side in the first but was tagged for a solo homer by Hunter Goodman. Three hits in the second brought two more runs home for the Rockies in the second. Jordan Beck added a run with a solo homer in the fourth inning. Gordon then loaded the bases on two hits and a hit batter before he was replaced with two outs at 68 pitches. The bullpen would strand the runners on base. Gordon collected five strikeouts. The 27-year-old left-hander should get another turn in the rotation next Monday against the Guardians in Cleveland, given Houston’s lack of healthy starting pitchers. Still, there’s no real fantasy appeal here.

Gordon takes the ball in place of an injured Cristian Javier (shoulder) as Houston attempts to snap a surreal eight-game losing streak. The 27-year-old will be making his season debut at Daikin Park with a pretty favorable matchup since the Rockies historically tend to struggle away from Coors Field for a variety of reasons. He’s a risky streaming option after posting a pedestrian 5.34 ERA across 86 innings at the highest level last year, but there’s some appeal in extremely deep mixed leagues.

The 27-year-old Gordon is up for the first time in 2026 after going 6-4 with a 5.34 ERA in 14 starts and six relief appearances for the Astros last year. He’ll likely move into the Astros’ injury-plagued rotation and start Tuesday or Wednesday against the Rockies.

The Astros will transition to a six-man rotation around mid-April when they hit a stretch of 13 consecutive games without an off-day. Hunter Brown and Tatsuya Imai are the only locks right now with Cristian Javier, Mike Burrows and Lance McCullers Jr. figuring to break camp in the rotation as well. The battle for the sixth spot in the rotation involves a combination of Spencer Arrighetti, AJ Blubaugh and Peter Lambert. The other option is to bring up someone like Jason Alexander or Colton Gordon a couple weeks into the year.

Gordon should operate as a spot starter at some point this season for the Astros. Ullola’s control issues — 78 walks in 113.2 innings last year in AAA Sugar Land, then six more in 5.1 innings in Spring Training — make it hard to believe he’ll resurface without adjustments.

He allowed two walks and struck out one. Gordon is on the outskirts of the battle for a back-end rotation spot and, while he has a 1.69 Spring Training ERA, he’s struck out just two in 5.1 innings so far.

Yohel Pozo homered off him. Gordon spent about half of his rookie season in the Astros’ rotation, going 6-4 with a 5.34 ERA in 14 starts and six relief appearances. He’s not a threat to be part of this year’s season-opening group unless injuries strike, but he is jockeying for position with the team’s other fallbacks.

Gordon entered a 1-1 game to start the fourth and then went about retiring 15 of the 16 batters he faced in his first appearance since allowing one run in an inning on September 20. He ends his rookie season 6-4 with a 5.34 ERA and a 72/19 K/BB in 86 innings over 14 starts and six relief appearances. It should be good enough to keep him on the Astros’ 40-man roster this winter, but the team would probably rather have him in Triple-A than in the major league rotation to open 2026.

Javier would have been on four days’ rest Tuesday, so this will give him the extra day after he threw a season-high 87 pitches last week in his sixth start back from Tommy John. This would seem to take Colton Gordon out of the mix to start; he could have pitched Wednesday after throwing 60 pitches in relief Friday, but it’s doubtful he’d be a candidate to go long on three days’ rest on Tuesday. Whether the Astros go with a bullpen game or call up someone could depend on how tonight’s game goes.