Making his first start of the year, Shane Bieber was tagged for four runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings against the Astros on Tuesday.

He gave up consecutive homers to Yainer Diaz, Cam Smith and Taylor Trammell in the fourth. Bieber, back from elbow inflammation, averaged 91.7 mph with his fastball, which is also right where he was in his Triple-A starts. That’s down about one mph from his seven starts post-Tommy John last year but still slightly better than his 91.3 mph average from 2022 and ’23. Ideally, he’ll get a little stronger as time goes on, but it’s not something to count on. Really, though, with his ability to locate, he can be effective where he is now. He just wasn’t sharp enough today. He has a couple of rather favorable starts coming up at home against the Rangers and in Seattle. If he’s not considerably better in those, then his status as a mixed-league SP should be reevaluated.