Astros Are Using Josh Hader Much Differently This Season

Astros closer Josh Hader pitched the ninth inning during Wednesday’s game but was not used in the 10th. This follows a trend that we didn’t see last year, of Hader only being available for one inning.

Hader came into a tie game in the ninth inning as he usually does and was perfect. He forced two pop-ups and struck out the final batter of the inning. He threw just 10 pitches.

The Astros used Bennett Sousa in the high-leverage 10th inning where a runner starts on second base. He immediately gave up a homer to put the Astros down by two runs. The team would score one in the bottom of the 10th to lose by one. Which begs the question: Is Josh Hader purely a one-inning reliever this year?

One-Inning Hader in 2026

Hader has made 26 appearances since starting the season on the IL and coming off on June 3. He has thrown 24.0 innings with three appearances shorter than one inning. He has thrown a scoreless ninth inning in a tie game on several occasions.

The trend started on June 10 when he came into a tie game in the ninth and was perfect, throwing 11 pitches. He did not come out for the 10th despite only throwing 11 pitches in a stress-free bottom of the ninth. The Astros would go on to get walked off by the Angels in that game.

This trend would happen five more times with some of the outings being understandable due to high pitch counts.

Multi-Inning Hader In 2025