Houston

Astros

Lambert’s latest quality start featured six strikeouts and one walk, but it’s a little concerning that his velocity was down; he averaged 93.5 mph with his fastball, 1.2 mph off his season average. He’d already gone from 95.3 and 95.1 mph in his first two starts to 94.3 and 94.4 mph in his previous two starts, so this is looking like a trend. He’s not a bad play this weekend against the Rangers, but this doesn’t really seem like the time to go pick him up.

With Carlos Correa out for the season, Paredes figures to have third base all to himself in Houston the rest of the way, making him a perfectly fine option as a third baseman or corner infielder in mixed leagues. He’s hitting .271 with three homers right now, and the home run pace still figures to pick up.

Technically, Correa tore the peroneus brevis tendon in his left ankle. The 31-year-old infielder suffered the injury during pregame batting practice last week. His absence means Isaac Paredes will handle the hot corner for the remainder of the year, which is undoubtedly a boost to his fantasy appeal.

Teng struck out one and walked one, throwing 63 pitches as the Astros’ rotation continues to battle through a long list of injuries. Tatsuya Imai’s return this week should help, but Teng is likely to still be used as part of a six-man rotation. His next start lines up at home against the Rangers.

Altuve has managed to score 24 runs this season, but through a little more than a month, he’s having his worst offensive performance since 2020. The primary culprit seems to be a sharp spike in his grounder rate. The Astros will return home for a seven-game week against the Mariners and Rangers.

Imai has continued to struggle with his command during his minor league rehab assignment, so fantasy managers are going to want to take a wait-and-see approach here before considering deploying the 28-year-old right-hander in lineups. Imai registered a troublesome 7.27 ERA, 2.08 WHIP and a 13/11 K/BB ratio over 8 2/3 innings in his first three starts for the Astros before landing on the injured list.

Shewmake, starting at shortstop on Saturday with both Carlos Correa and Jeremy Peña sidelined, put the Astros on the board for their only run with a solo homer off Chase Burns in the fifth inning. The 28-year-old infielder’s time with the team could be limited with Jeremy Peña (hamstring) nearing a rehab assignment.

Arrighetti had tossed four scoreless innings, stranding two base runners, until running into trouble in the fifth. The Reds got to him for three runs, one earned, on three hits, two walks, and an error. He returned for the sixth and recorded two outs before his day was done at 93 pitches. He struck out five. The 26-year-old right-hander will take a 1.88 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and a 30/17 K/BB ratio across 28 2/3 innings into a start against the Mariners in Houston on Thursday.

Astros manager Joe Espada said Friday that Peña could begin a minor league rehab assignment in the next couple days. The 28-year-old shortstop has been out recovering from a hamstring strain since April 13. He figures to make it back to Houston’s lineup at some point in the next week or two.

Thomas will report to Triple-A Sugar Land as organizational depth for Houston after getting into three games with the Mariners last year. The 26-year-old has hit .260/.313/.328 with two homers and six steals in 31 games at the Triple-A level this season.