Hayden Wesneski Returns in Style as Astros Continue Momentum

The Houston Astros are on a roll at the moment. With the 7-4 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night, the Astros made it eight wins in their last nine games and three straight series wins.

The latest was a much-needed sweep over the Angels, whom the Astros had surprisingly struggled with earlier in the year. While it took another comeback from an early 3-0 deficit on Wednesday, Houston got it done. The road trip was also successful with a 5-1 overall record, including a series win over the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox.

It means that the Astros finally crossed that hump and reached .500 for the first time since April 7, when they were 6-6. Houston had come close to this mark a few times, but hadn't actually done it until the sweep of the Angels. The Astros are currently 55-55. It was a tough journey for the Astros to get to this point, given they were 11 games under .500 at one point with a load of injuries.

It looked like the Astros might not even get to .500 on Wednesday, given how the game started and the pitching situation.

None of that ultimately mattered. With starter Hayden Wesneski making his 2026 season debut, it was his first time pitching for Houston in 449 days; there was uncertainty about how his outing might go. The Astros bullpen didn't have a long reliever available after the first game of the series, and Wesneski needed to put together at least close to four innings.

New Astros Starter Wesneski Delivered

Houston Astros catcher Christian Vazquez (2) and second baseman Jose Altuve (27) celebrate the victory. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

He did that and then some. Wesneski was quite impressive considering this was his first start in almost 15 months after undergoing Tommy John surgery. The 28-year-old right-hander managed to throw 5.2 innings and only gave up three earned runs. Wesneski threw 79 total pitches in his season debut and 52 of them were for strikes (66 percent). He allowed seven hits, two walks and one hit batter, but also struck out four.

It started a bit shaky for Wesneski, as he gave up three runs in the first inning. Based on the box score, that may have been worrying, but he did have some bad luck. It wasn't like he was out of control. The first hit of the game was a double by Mike Trout, but it landed right in no man's land between three fielders. If Trout hit it a bit harder, it would've been a flyout.

The two-run double from Vaughn Grissom also flew just over the head of third baseman Isaac Paredes, while the RBI single from Jo Adell made an unlucky bounce over shortstop Jeremy Peña.

Houston Astros pitcher Hayden Wesneski (39) delivers a pitch. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Wesneski was lights out the rest of the way and settled in nicely. Either way, this was a very encouraging start from the Sam Houston State product as he earned the win, and his outing ultimately allowed the Astros to complete the comeback. The Houston native could end up being a valuable starting arm if he keeps this up, given Tatsuya Imai's inconsistency and Spencer Arrighetti's recent injury.

A two-RBI double from Cam Smith in the sixth inning was the go-ahead run, while Jose Altuve scored another run in the seventh as he sprinted from first to home on a short pop-up.

It was just his first start of the year, but Wesneski switched to the sweeper as his most-used pitch 35 percent of the time, followed by the sinker at 23 percent, according to Baseball Savant. His four-seam fastball was third at 19 percent. His arsenal could change this year, leaning towards more sweepers and sinkers, while significantly reducing the curveball.

Add us as a preferred source on Google