Astros manager A.J. Hinch being cautious with 7-man bullpen

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Houston Astros relief pitcher Roberto Osuna (54) reacts after the ninth inning of an MLB game at Minute Maid Park, Thursday, August 9, 2018, in Houston.

>>>See how the Astros have fared so far this season ... less Houston Astros relief pitcher Roberto Osuna (54) reacts after the ninth inning of an MLB game at Minute Maid Park, Thursday, August 9, 2018, in Houston. PHOTOS: 2019 Astros game-by-game

Houston Astros relief pitcher Roberto Osuna (54) reacts after the ninth inning of an MLB game at Minute Maid Park, Thursday, August 9, 2018, in Houston.

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The balance of Houston’s seven-man bullpen is askew due to a cautious approach with closer Roberto Osuna and set-up man Ryan Pressly.

Manager A.J. Hinch acknowledged Saturday he is hesitant to use either of his bullish back-end righthanders late in games that the Astros trail. Osuna pitched the ninth inning of Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Cleveland, though that represents an outlier than a regular occurrence.

“I don’t really like to do it, because I like to save their best bullets for times where we’re putting away wins,” Hinch said. “There’s going to be times where they’re going to pitch in games we’re losing, but there’s also a lot of guys down there that have the capabilities to pitch in any of these games as well.”

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Neither Osuna (10 ⅓ innings) nor Pressly (9 ⅔ innings) possessed an egregious workload entering Saturday’s game against Cleveland.

“I’d like to pay close attention to these guys’ workload throughout the season,” Hinch said, “but I don’t want to lose games because of it.”

This philosophy, coupled with Houston’s 2-5 record in its last seven games, has skewed the balance of an already understaffed bullpen. Often in those losses, Houston played from behind after a bad first inning, almost rendering Osuna and Pressly as non-factors.

Going into Saturday’s game against the Indians, Will Harris, Josh James, Chris Devenski and Hector Rondon combined to cover 9 ⅓ innings during the first five games of the homestand. Osuna and Pressly had just three innings. Pressly was asked to warm up during Friday’s game, though he never actually pitched.

“It doesn’t go down as an appearance, but it goes down as a guy getting hot,” Hinch said. “Not having the extra pitcher throws a little bit of a different challenge in there, but we’ve had plenty enough pitching and plenty of rested guys at times to come in and pitch.”

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