Dodgers blow out Astros, but Tyler Glasnow exits with lower back pain

HOUSTON - Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow paused after a warmup pitch ahead of the bottom of the second inning and shouted in frustration. He motioned to the dugout.

Glasnow threw just one inning in the Dodgers' 11-2 rout of the Houston Astros on Wednesday before exiting with what the Dodgers said was lower back pain.

Glasnow (2.72 ERA) surrendered a leadoff home run to the Astros' Brice Matthews before retiring the next three batters.

He struck out both Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes looking, reaching and then surpassing the 1,000 career strikeout threshold.

The severity of Glasnow's injury was not immediately clear.

Last September, Glasnow was scratched from a start against the Orioles with back tightness, but he went on to pitch three days later. In 2024, a back injury sidelined him for almost three weeks.

The Dodgers were facing a rotation crunch with southpaw Blake Snell (shoulder fatigue) nearing his return from the injured list. But if Glasnow's injury lingers, the back end of the rotation can stand pat.

Snell is scheduled to make his next rehab start Saturday for Single-A Ontario, chosen for its proximity to Los Angeles. As long as it goes well, manager Dave Roberts confirmed, Snell is expected to be activated.

To cover for Glasnow on Wednesday, six Dodgers relievers combined to hold the Astros to one run over the last eight innings. Right-hander Brock Stewart, whom the Dodgers activated off the injured list before the game, put the finishing touches on the effort.

His clean ninth inning was his first major league appearance since August. He began the season on the IL after undergoing a surgical debridement on his right shoulder in September. To clear room for him on the roster, the Dodgers optioned left-hander Jake Eder to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

The Dodgers offense scored in the double digits for the first time in a week and a half.

They took advantage of some luck and Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr.'s loss of command to score their first three runs. Kyle Tucker had the Dodgers' first hit of the game, a ground ball that kicked off of first base and into the outfield for a double to lead off the second inning.

The next inning, Alex Freeland and Shohei Ohtani - who snapped a five-game hitless streak with a 2-for-4 day Wednesday - also scored on wild pitches.

Then the Dodgers' bats heated up in earnest.

Andy Pages turned on a sinker and sent it into the Crawford Boxes for a three-run shot that put the finishing touches on that third-inning rally. Pages spiked the knob of his bat into the dirt before rounding the bases. It was his first home run in three weeks, as Pages continued to lift himself out of the down stretch that followed his red-hot start.

Then two innings later, Pages hit a two-run homer over the left-field wall for his first multi-homer game of the season. And in the ninth, he mashed a solo shot off Astros catcher Cesar Salazar, to make it the first three-homer game of his career.

Freddie Freeman, Ohtani and Freeland contributed the Dodgers' other RBI hits.

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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 2:56 PM.