Astros' Lance McCullers Jr. to make long-awaited return vs. White Sox

Lance McCullers Jr. will pitch in a major-league game for the first time in 2 1/2 years when he takes the mound for the visiting Houston Astros on Sunday in the rubber game of their three-game series with the Chicago White Sox.

The 31-year-old McCullers has not appeared on an MLB mound since a 7-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3 of the 2022 World Series. He surrendered four homers to the first nine batters and five overall, becoming the first pitcher to give up that many long balls in a World Series game.

A muscle strain in his right arm shut McCullers down at the start of the 2023 season and he eventually underwent surgery in June. When he suffered a setback in his recovery, he had to miss all of last season as well. Now the right-hander with the deluxe curveball gets to pitch in an MLB game for the first time in 915 days.

"It's a day I've waited for for a long time," said McCullers, a 2017 AL All Star and two-time World Series winner. "It feels like I'm making my debut in some aspects. It's been a really long road for me. I thank my teammates, coaching staff and the Astros organization for standing by me and supporting me."

After making four rehab starts in the minors, McCullers threw a bullpen last Sunday that convinced Houston manager Joe Espada he was ready for his big-league return.

"He was excited," Espada said. "I thought his stuff looked good. I am really looking forward to having him on the mound Sunday. He's worked his tail off to get back to this point and this whole entire team and the city should be excited to get Lance back."

McCullers isn't expected to display his former velocity, but he's seen plenty of veteran pitchers around the league have success with less than what they previously had -- including the Texas Rangers' Nathan Eovaldi and the St. Louis Cardinals' Sonny Gray.

"As things develop over time, you just become a new version of yourself, and I've had to do that quite a few times," McCullers said. "My overall stuff is still there and I'm excited about the full pitching repertoire I have and how I'm going to be able to execute it."

Bryse Wilson is scheduled to start the series finale for the White Sox.

Wilson (0-1, 5.00 ERA) has made one other start this season among his 11 appearances, all of which the White Sox have lost.

He threw 3 1/3 innings of relief on Tuesday against the visiting Milwaukee Brewers and took the loss after allowing three runs and two hits in the 7-2 defeat.

"I've (started games) the last couple of years, so (I'm) used to throwing a lot of pitches," Wilson said. "Looking forward to going out there and giving the team as much length as I can and kind of save the bullpen a bit."

Chicago won the series opener 7-3 on Friday night when Jonathan Cannon outpitched Framber Valdez and the White Sox got a better performance out of their bullpen.

Jake Meyers single-handedly beat the White Sox on Saturday, driving in seven runs in the Astros' 8-3 victory.

He became the first Houston player with two homers, a triple and a double in the same game, and tied the franchise record with 13 total bases.