HOUSTON (AP) — Houston starter Tatsuya Imai will pitch out of the bullpen for Houston’s weekend series against the Texas Rangers, manager Joe Espada said Friday before the start of the three-game set after the right-hander struggled in his last start.
Espada said that for now he expects the move to just be for this series.
“We’re working with him,” Espada said. “We want to try to get him right because when he’s on the mound and he’s a starter, his stuff is really good… (and) he can be effective."
Imai got just two outs while giving up two runs and walking four on Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Angels. He is in his first year with the Astros after signing a three-year, $54 million contract following eight professional seasons in Japan.
He’s had an up and down season, at times pitching extremely well but struggling in several starts. He started and pitched six innings of a combined no-hitter against the Rangers on May 25.
But he’s lasted three innings or less in five of his 15 starts, including failing to get out of the first inning three times. He’s 6-4 with a 5.83 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings.
“We’re going to work on a couple of things that we noticed in his last start and just trying to get him going that way,” Espada said. “Hopefully we can give him a few innings during the series. But if not, I think we’ve got a pretty good plan here moving forward to see how we can get him back.”
Espada said he did pitch out of the bullpen in Japan but that he hasn’t done it much. He’s confident that he can handle the temporary switch.
“I think he can quickly get ready,” Espada said. “But we’re just going to go one inning at a time. We’re going to make sure that we give him enough time to bring him in the game.”
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Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)
Houston Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai delivers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Kevin M. Cox)
Houston Astros starting pitcher Tatsuya Imai (45) is removed by manager Joe Espada, left, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Monday, July 27, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Strazzante)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian assets of German retailer Metro AG placed under temporary administration. The step comes against a background of tension between Germany and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The order, posted Monday on the government website, did not state a reason. The step follows similar steps against the Russia businesses of global food company Nestle and French retailer Auchan under a 2023 decree aimed at businesses associated with “unfriendly countries.”
Temporary administration has led to local owners taking over the Russia businesses of French dairy concern Danone and Danish brewer Carlsberg at knockdown prices.
Metro said in a statement that although Metro Russia formally belonged to it, it had no further operational control over the business. The Kremlin order placed the assets under the administration of UK Torg Rus, described in the Metro news release as “a company of Metro Russia CEO Johannes Tholey.”
Metro said it had been reducing its connections to the Russia business since the 2022 Russian invasion. It said that “further consequences of the decree on Metro AG are currently being analyzed.” Metro has 9,000 employees in Russia.
Germany has concluded that Russia was responsible for an attempted drone attack at the Leipzig airport and closed a Russian consulate in Bonn and a Russian cultural center in Berlin. Russia in response closed the German consulate in St. Petersburg. Moscow denied the allegations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met his German counterpart Johann Wadephul on Saturday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly but was dismissive afterward, saying that Wadephul "simply reiterated his official public position condemning Russia... you can judge for yourself whether that counts as dialogue or not.”
“The Russians are raising the pressure on Germany in their hybrid war,” said Stefan Meister, a Russia expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations. “It's being made clear that the Germans could lose even more companies and assets in Russia, in order to raise pressure on the German government from the German business community."
Meister said that Russia sees Germany “as a key adversary since it is Ukraine's most important single supporter.”
Some major Western businesses ceased operating in Russia and wrote off their businesses after 2022. Since then the Kremlin has imposed burdensome conditions for disposing of local affiliates, demanding they be sold at a steep discount and subject to exit taxes and government approval. Other companies have scaled back their operations, while others continue to do business as usual.
FILE - The logo of Metro Cash&Carry is photographed in Duesseldorf, Germany, Wednesday March 30, 2016. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP, file)
