{
  "id": 10558146,
  "title": "Houston Astros to open with AJ Blubaugh in Game 1 against White Sox in wild-card series",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/houston-astros-to-open-with-aj-blubaugh-in-game-1-against-white-sox",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-28T23:23:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/houston-astros-open-aj-blubaugh-232355433.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Houston Astros have announced that rookie right-hander AJ Blubaugh will take the mound in Game 1 of their wild-card series against the White Sox on Tuesday. This decision comes as the team aims to deploy a bullpen game, given their limited pitching options following a quick turnaround from their regular-season finale, where they clinched the AL West title. Blubaugh, who led the majors with 96 relief innings this season and posted a 3.66 ERA, has not started a game during the regular season but has thrown multiple innings in 37 of 64 appearances. His longest outing this season was 3⅔ innings on May 3, while his later-game outings were often shorter. The Astros hope Blubaugh's inclusion will allow them to gain more length from the opener and rely less on bulk-innings relievers to bridge the gap to their late-game arms.",
  "summary": "AJ Blubaugh led the majors with 96 innings of relief work this season and will be first man up in a 'bullpen' game to open wild-card series.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}