Houston Astros Add Reinforcements, Make Roster Moves Ahead of Royals Game

The Houston Astros are getting back a much needed reinforcement down the final stretch of the season, making roster moves ahead of their game against the Kansas City Royals.

The Houston Astros are in a fight to the finish on top of the AL West for the third consecutive season.

They've held the top spot in the division for almost all of September, but now find themselves a half game behind the Texas Rangers entering Saturday.

Poor play from the pitching staff has hurt their ability to win games, even against the bottom two teams Oakland Athletics and Kansas City Royals.

The Astros dropped their first game against the Royals on Friday after a poor pitching performance from their ace Framber Valdez put them in an early deficit.

Good news for Houston is that they got a pitching reinforcement back in the mix.

The official social media page of the Astros posted that they have reinstated reliever Ryne Stanek off the 15-day IL.

Stanek has been an important part of the bullpen for the past two seasons and will add another weapon to their relief unit that has started to play better down the stretch.

The 32-year-old has a 3-1 record with an ERA of 3.99 across 54 appearances this season.

In order to make room on the active roster, they optioned Joel Kuhnel down to their Triple-A affiliate.

Kuhnel was picked up in June after the Cincinnati Reds designated him for assignment. The right hander has spent time between Houston and Triple-A Sugar Land since joining the organization.

In seven games for the Astros, he has a 4.66 ERA across 9 2/3 innings pitched.

Stanek has been working his way back from an ankle injury that he suffered when rolling it on the first base bag.

He made his first appearance back during the first game of the series against Kansas City, throwing a scoreless inning without allowing a hit.