GILES HIT BY LINE DRIVE.
Reliever Ken Giles was struck on his right wrist by a line drive during early batting practice Saturday, potentially bringing an end to an up-and-down season for the closer.
“It wasn’t good,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “It looked like the ball off of the bat hit him pretty hard, so he was already starting to bruise in the wrist area.
“He’ll be taken in. It looked very painful to me.”
Giles, 26, was in right field near the foul line when he was hit.
He was out throwing with a number of other pitchers, a routine before the entire team goes through its pregame stretching and moves into batting practice.
Pitchers normally work in the outfield while the position players hit before staying out to help shag baseballs.
After he was struck, Giles fell to the ground in pain and was surrounded by teammates.
Hinch and team trainers were quickly summoned and a cart came out to get Giles.
X-rays were negative and the team called his injury a bruised right wrist.
Now, the rest of his season is in doubt.
The righthander labored through his worst outing of the season Friday night. Giles, who was the centerpiece in an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, faced seven batters in the ninth inning, giving up six runs and getting just one out before he exited with the Astros trailing 10-6 after going in leading by two. The 30-pitch inning was his first outing in three days.
Before that stretch, Giles pitched three times in four games in Seattle and Oakland, converting all three save chances and not allowing a run while striking out six.
Giles is 2-5 with a 4.31 ERA and 13 saves this season.
Luke Gregerson, who gave up a run in the eighth inning Friday, enters Saturday having pitched every other day since Sept. 17. That includes a 28-pitch ninth Wednesday.
Will Harris has had three outings since Mon- day.
It might mean another reliever getting the ball in the ninth inning, with Hinch making reference to Jandel Gustave, Chris Devenski and Pat Neshek as possible options in high-leverage situations late in games.
“The reality is we’ve used our bullpen to the extent where they’re not always available every day,” Hinch said. “Then you have something like this where Giles gets hit with a line drive in batting practice (to) further complicate things.”
Correa accepts playing with pain
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa knows it’s a long season, so playing through pain is just part of the deal.
That’s where he finds himself, inserted in the lineup Saturday a day after a diving attempt in the field aggravated the left shoulder injury that has bothered the 22-yearold for nearly three weeks and will continue to do so until he’s able to rest in the offseason.
“It’s a grind,” he said before Saturday’s game. “It’s a long season, so you have to learn how to play with your body not feeling 100 percent all the time.”
Correa took swings and went through a series of tests, showing Astros manager A.J. Hinch he was comfortable starting the game.
“He’s in a lot of pain,” Hinch said. “Most of these guys this time of year — something’s hurting them.
“He has a little bit more of a definitive injury that he had a couple weeks, but he’s not going to further injure himself by playing or by making any play in the field.
“But he’s not going to feel comfortable. He’s not going to have full range of motion.
“He’s not going to have 100 percent of his flexibility and strength until the offseason.”
Correa tried to make a diving catch in the ninth inning Friday, landing on his left shoulder and then coming out of the game.
Inflammation in the shoulder cost him four games this month and forced the Astros to send Correa back to Houston in the middle of their series in Cleveland.
The Astros trailed 7-6 with two outs at the time Friday, with Correa sprinting into shallow center field in an attempt to end an inning in which the Angels erased a two-run deficit.
The blooper by Rafael Ortega came out of Correa’s glove when he hit the ground, and three runs scored.
“It’s not the same going into a ninth inning losing by one run then losing by four or five runs,” Correa said. “I had to go all out for that ball and unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch it.”
Odds and ends
Outfielder George Springer was honored as the team’s recipient of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association 2016 Heart and Hustle Award.
The overall winner is announced Nov. 15. Hall of Famer Craig Biggio is a two-time overall winner (2006-07).
• After not seeing Seattle ace Felix Hernandez until Sept. 16, the Astros will face the righthander again Tuesday. He’ll start the middle game between righthander Hisashi Iwakuma and lefthander James Paxton. The Astros will go with Collin McHugh, Mike Fiers and Doug Fister.
• In celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, the Astros wore jerseys with “Los Astros” on the front.
Angel Verdejo Jr.