HOUSTON — A.J. Blubaugh could feel the love, even from 1,200 miles away.
A 2019 Clear Fork graduate, Blubaugh made his big league debut with the Houston Astros on Wednesday. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up two earned runs and struck out six in four innings of work in a 7-4 loss to Detroit.
News of Blubaugh’s promotion raced through Bellville and Butler late Monday and into Tuesday. Scores of Clear Fork Valley residents reached out to wish him well prior to Wednesday’s spot start.
“I felt the power from the Valley last night,” Blubaugh said with a laugh Thursday.
The 24-year-old Blubaugh allowed five hits, including a pair of home runs. He surrendered a grand slam to Javy Baez in the third after an error prolonged the inning.
“I had my ups and downs throughout the outing,” Blubaugh said. “Looking back on it, there are a couple of pitches I wish I could have back, but at the end of the day I made a bunch of good pitches.
“I learned from all of my mistakes. I’ll make the adjustments and grow from it.”
Astros manager Joe Espada was encouraged by what he saw from Blubaugh, who was called up late Monday from Houston’s Triple-A affiliate, the Sugar Land (Texas) Space Cowboys.
“I thought he competed. He stayed in the fight,” Espada said afterward. “I thought his stuff was really good.
“I wish the outcome would have been different but I thought that was a really nice first showing.”
Blubaugh’s fastball was consistently clocked in the mid-90s and reached 97 on Daikin Park’s radar gun. Espada was especially impressed with Blubaugh’s composure.
“I really like his demeanor and the fight he had on the mound. He did not back down,” Espada said. “I really like the make-up of this kid. … He’s got that temperament that we are looking for.”
Blubaugh did his best to approach Wednesday’s start like any other baseball game appearance.
“There’s definitely a lot of outside things, but you get used to it coming up through professional baseball,” Blubaugh said. “I feel like I’ve been pretty good at focusing on what’s important and blocking out the things that don’t matter.
“What’s helped me the most is putting all of my faith and all of my trust into God. … That’s helped shape me into the person and the baseball player I am today.”
As expected, Blubaugh was optioned back to Sugar Land on Thursday. He was 2-2 with a 3.86 earned run average and 28 strikeouts in 21 innings of work with the Space Cowboys before his promotion.
“The possibility is there for me to go back up, but all I can do is control what I can control,” Blubaugh said. “I’ll approach every day like it’s my first time pitching and my last time pitching.”