Giles optioned to Triple-A

HOUSTON — The Houston Astros have optioned reliever and Albuquerque native Ken Giles to Triple-A Fresno, a night after he appeared to curse at manager A.J. Hinch when he lifted him from the game.

Despite Tuesday night’s incident, the Astros insisted that the move was about baseball and not the right-hander’s behavior.

“We need to get his pitching right,” Hinch said on Wednesday. “He’s had an up-and-down season. He’s had signs that things are good. He’s had some bad games. He’s had some meltdowns. But we need to get him right. He’s not right and we’ve got to get him right mentally and physically to make sure he’s a good contributor to a ‘pen.”

The Astros were up by four to start the ninth inning against Oakland on Tuesday night when Giles took over and gave up three straight singles, which cut the lead to 4-1.

Hinch came to the mound to take out Giles and the television broadcast caught him appearing to curse at Hinch right after he walked by him on his way off the field. The Athletics tied the game in the ninth but Houston went on to win the game 6-5 in 11 innings.

It was the second major outburst of the year for Giles, who punched himself in the face as he left the mound after another bad performance earlier in the season.

The 27-year-old Giles is 0-2 with a career-high 4.99 ERA in 34 appearances this season.