Hamels, who stressed fastball command over his final two spring starts, struggled to locate that pitch during Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Astros, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. The left-hander walked four batters and gave up two home runs in the loss.
The trouble for Hamels started immediately when he fell behind leadoff batter George Springer, 2-0. His next pitch, a fastball, caught too much of the plate and Springer hammered it into the right-field stands. Falling behind became the rule, not the exception, for Hamels, who threw first-pitch balls to nine of the first 13 hitters and fell behind, 2-0, to six of them. "When you get behind in counts, you have to throw some pitches that they are able to hit, and that's what they were able to do," Hamels said. "I have to make the adjustment a lot quicker. It's something I've been searching for all spring, so that was the tough part today. When you have repeatable mechanics, things happen for you." The good news is that Hamels survived with curveballs and cutters, limiting the damage over 5.2 innings.