Tatsuya Imai’s jaw-dropping dominance will have Astros fans thinking about playoffs

The Houston Astros are keeping things interesting in the American League West, as they continue to breathe down the necks of the division-leading Seattle Mariners.

With their 2-1 victory in the series opener against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday at Comerica Park in Detroit, the Astros improved to 40-43 and extended their winning streak to three games, dating back to the previous series against the reigning American League champs, Toronto Blue Jays.

Key to the Astros’ success in the Tigers game was the performance by pitcher Tatsuya Imai, who is having quite a stretch himself. Imai humbled Tigers hitters with a sterling start, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing only two hits and a walk, while striking out 10 along the way.

Imai is doing his part in fueling the excitement for the Astros, whose fans should be starting to believe in the team’s hopes for the playoffs again. Imai’s 2026 ERA is still high at 5.36, but he’s issued just a walk and struck out 21 hitters over his last two starts. He seems to have already gotten over a recent disaster on the mound when he gave up five earned runs on just 2/3 innings of the Astros’ 10-8 road win over the Kansas City Royals on June 12.

Houston surely loves what it is seeing in Imai of late, especially with the club’s rotation still missing injured stars Cristian Javier and Lance McCullers Jr.

With Houston winning and the Mariners losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Astros are now just 1.5 games off the top of the AL West standings.

The post Tatsuya Imai’s jaw-dropping dominance will have Astros fans thinking about playoffs appeared first on ClutchPoints.