Astros' Tatsuya Imai eager to regain form vs. slumping Marlins

Before reinstating pitchers Ronel Blanco and Bennett Sousa from the 60-day injured list, the Houston Astros executed a surprising roster move by demoting reliever Bryan King to Triple-A Sugar Land following their loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday.

Blanco made his season debut in the Astros' 8-5 interleague victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday. Sousa, a left-handed reliever like King, got loose in the bullpen during the fifth inning but did not enter the game. It would have marked the first appearance for Sousa since May 4.

Sousa could be called on Tuesday night in Houston, when the Astros will look to secure a series victory over the Marlins.

King allowed one run during a sterling stretch of 17 appearances between May 29 and July 7, finishing 2-0 with a 0.55 ERA. His last four outings were ineffective, with King going 0-2 with a 14.40 ERA and a blown save. He allowed five homers across five innings before his demotion.

"Just go work on some stuff," Astros manager Joe Espada said of the directive for King. "He has that invisible fastball, especially against righties. Trying to get it to not be so much general in the plate, kind of look for certain areas that he can get some swing and miss.

"Huge improvement with his slider, especially against lefties. But we gave him a plan, an objective to go down there and work on some stuff."

Right-hander Tatsuya Imai (5-4, 6.06 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Astros on Tuesday.

Imai had a rough close to the first half of his first season in the majors, going 0-1 with a 12.60 ERA while logging only five innings over his final two starts before the All-Star break. He was 3-0 with a 5.09 ERA in four starts last month with 30 strikeouts and just five walks in 17 2/3 innings.

Imai will make his first career appearance against the Marlins. In two interleague starts this season, he is 0-1 with a 3.72 ERA.

Right-hander Tyler Phillips (2-4, 3.48) has the starting assignment for the Marlins. It will mark the 10th start and 26th appearance of the season for Phillips, with his nine previous starts coming in his past 10 appearances.

Phillips is 2-4 with a 4.91 ERA as a starter this season, including a 5-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on July 12 when he allowed two runs on two hits and one walk with one strikeout in one inning.

He will make his first career start against the Astros. He is 4-2 with a 5.15 ERA in 28 career interleague appearances (eight starts).

The Marlins entered the series with Houston locked in a three-way tie with the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates for the third wild card in the National League, despite carrying a six-game skid into Monday.

After roaring into contention by winning 26 of 34 games from June 1 through July 9, the Marlins are laboring to find the form that left them a season-high 10 games over .500 just 11 days ago. They are now 52-49.

"I look at it like this stretch of games and losing, over the course of an entire season, unfortunately it happens on multiple occasions," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "Right now we're going through it, and I think myself and our coaches are just much more concerned with getting our guys back to playing a better brand of baseball, at least to give us a chance to win."

--Field Level Media