Astros' Tatsuya Imai's decision caps off nightmare road trip

Astros' Tatsuya Imai's decision caps off nightmare road trip originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Houston Astros are in the middle of a brutal losing skid early in the season. After winning 11-0 over the Athletics on April 4th, they've lost five straight games, all on the road.

It's been a bad road trip, strictly on a wins and losses basis, but it's been a whole lot worse than it seems on the surface. They've lost multiple starting pitchers to injury, including Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier.

And as MLB.com's Brian McTaggart notes, things are getting even worse, as the Astros are sending Tatsuya Imai back to Houston after his rough outing against the Seattle Mariners.

Astros in middle of nightmare road trip amid Imai news

"That means 3/5 of the Astros' starting rotation to begin the season has flown home during this road trip," McTaggart noted.

Imai is headed back to Houston after going just 0.1 innings against the Mariners, with concerns about an injury very apparent after that rough outing.

Combined with Brown and Javier both also headed back to Houston during this road trip, over half of the Astros' starting rotation has been sent home due to injury concerns on this road trip.

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It's been a nightmare for the Astros, as somehow things continue to get worse with each passing game. They lost the series to the A's, then were swept by the Colorado Rockies, and now have seen their third pitcher sent home during this road trip.

If Imai lands on the injured list, the Astros would've lost three out of their five starting pitchers, all on one road trip, to injury for an extended period of time.

Houston is having some problems right now, and those issues revolve around the starting rotation. It's another year of injuries to the Astros rotation, and this time, all but Michael Burrows and Lance McCullers Jr. have been dealt injuries from their starting rotation.

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