Astros' Lance McCullers scratched from Wednesday's start

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ANAHEIM, Calif. - Astros No. 3 starter Lance McCullers Jr. was scratched from his scheduled start Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels because of what manager A.J. Hinch described Tuesday night as arm fatigue.

Mike Fiers will start in McCullers' place Wednesday opposite Angels lefthander Tyler Skaggs.

McCullers didn't bounce back from his Sept. 6 start at Seattle as well as the Astros hoped. The 23-year-old righthander said Tuesday night he feels like he could start Wednesday but the decision was taken out of his hands.

"We're not overly concerned," Hinch said, "with the exception of I'm not going to have him go out there if he doesn't feel good."

Hinch said McCullers reported the issue Tuesday after playing catch at Angel Stadium in the afternoon. McCullers threw 76 pitches over 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball in his Sept. 6 start, his first for the Astros since July 30 because of what the team had described as "back discomfort."

McCullers said the arm fatigue is "very much reminiscent of like something you would deal with during spring (training)" and attributed it to his recent long layoff from pitching competitively.

"He's not concerned, which makes me not concerned," Hinch said after the Astros' 1-0 win Tuesday night. "Obviously, it doesn't feel good to have to scratch him. But we're going to continue to be conservative with him especially. He's had an up-and-down year when dealing with stuff. So, when he reported that he had a little bit of symptoms during playing catch today we were going to scratch him."

Fiers was removed from the Astros' rotation on Sept. 4 amid a 4.78 ERA. He made one relief appearance Friday at Oakland and was charged with two runs in one-plus innings.