HOUSTON — The man reviving an entire starting rotation first had to remake himself. He languished in one of Major League Baseball’s most difficult places to pitch before embarking on a one-year excursion to Japan. There, Peter Lambert started to form a foundation. He made 23 starts for the Yakult Swallows, threw nearly 130 innings and, for the first time in what felt like forever, had a defined role.In search of another, Lambert turned to the Houston Astros, a team that has transformed Ryan Pressly, Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, Charlie Morton and countless other pitchers nearing a crossroads. Lambert said he “took a flier” by signing a minor-league contract with them last October, leaning on those litany of reclamation projects as rationale.“I feel like a new pitcher,” said Lambert, who can now count himself among the converted. “It’s tough to say ‘reinvented myself,’ I know how fast this game can change. I could go out there (in my next start) and give up five homers. This game can humble you in a heartbeat, but I definitely feel like a different pitcher.”Six more impressive innings on Wednesday night — with no home runs allowed — continued Lambert’s career renaissance. It could not be arriving at a more apt time. After Houston granted Lambert his release two days before Opening Day, the understated right-hander has brought stability that no one else could to the team’s teetering starting rotation.Lambert has allowed two or fewer runs in nine of his past 10 starts. Houston has won seven of them. Though Lambert did not debut until the season’s 21st game, he has still thrown more innings than any member of Houston’s beleaguered pitching staff. He outdueled Shohei Ohtani with one of his first masterpieces and struck out 10 Baltimore Orioles in one of his most recent.“There’s always someone, one pitcher, that gets an opportunity and just runs with it,” manager Joe Espada said. “Peter’s been that guy for us. He’s stepped up. He’s been our ace and he doesn’t back down from a challenge.”“This game can humble you in a heartbeat, but I definitely feel like a different pitcher,” Peter Lambert said. (Kevin M. Cox / Associated Press)According to Baseball Reference, Lambert is the only Astros pitcher worth more than 1.6 wins above replacement. The only Astro worth more bWAR at all? MVP front-runner Yordan Alvarez.“The fearlessness that he has taken with his own development is what I think has been the true difference maker for him,” said Astros Triple-A pitching coach Sean Buchanan. “His fearlessness of not being afraid of failure and the coaching, that’s what’s been truly special.”Lambert is still six innings shy of qualifying for the American League ERA title. Among the 30 pitchers who have, just five have a lower ERA than Lambert’s 3.03 mark. Four of them — Cam Schlittler, Nick Martinez, Dylan Cease and Parker Messick — were All-Stars.Lambert has pitched into the sixth inning during 12 of his 17 starts and has thrown 100 or more pitches five times. The team is 10-7 when Lambert starts, but during those seven losses, Houston has averaged 2.2 runs per game.“We’ve always kind of seen him from across the field and watched him last year in Japan to say ‘Hey, this guy has good stuff,’” Astros pitching coach Josh Miller said.“I don’t think it’s any magic, secret thing that we’ve done, it’s just him having an open conversation and doing the thing — pitching with confidence and the stuff has played up.”Fascination follows any pitcher the Astros manage to make better. Often, there are obvious changes that catalyze it. Cole and Verlander scrapped their sinkers. Pressly spammed hitters with two high-spin breaking balls he hadn’t thrown enough. It is not supposed to be so simple, but they made it seem that way.