BASEBALL / Taiwan's Teng Kai-wei to start for Astros against Orioles

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) Houston Astros right-hander Teng Kai-wei (鄧愷威), the only active Taiwanese pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB), is slated to start against the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning Taiwan time) as the team battles a pitching shortage.

The news was first reported by Chandler Rome, an Astros beat reporter at The Athletic, in an X post Monday. Teng's name has been listed as the team's starter on the MLB website.

The arrangement came after Astros general manager Dana Brown acknowledged that the team had internal discussions on whether to move the team's most consistent pitcher out of the bullpen last Wednesday, citing Teng's "2 2/3 really quality innings" against the Cleveland Guardians a day before, his longest outing of the season.

"Phenomenal," Astros manager Joe Espada was cited as saying by Brian McTaggart with MLB.com Saturday.

"Just to bridge to the back end of our bullpen, [effective against] both righties and lefties, can create swing and miss. I really like what he's done in that bullpen," the manager added.

So far, Teng has established himself as the most reliable arm in the Astros' bullpen, posting a 2.16 earned run average (ERA) over 16 2/3 innings pitched with 16 strikeouts and a 0.90 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP).

The outing in the three-game series opener at Oriole Park will mark the 27-year-old Taiwanese's first start since he was traded to Houston by the San Francisco Giants in January, as the Astros seek to address their injury-plagued pitching staff.

As of press time, the Astros had an MLB-worst 5.97 team ERA.

In his previous two seasons with the Giants, Teng mainly served as a long reliever in 2024 and started seven of his eight outings in 2025, tossing an average of 51 pitches per game in 2024 and 71.6 in 2025. So far in 2026, he has only averaged 23.4 pitches per game with the Astros.

Tuesday's start will test his ability to make quick in-season adjustments, though he is not expected to toss as many pitches as last season.