Altuve says his knee is fine
When Jose Altuve stood on first base in the sixth inning, he felt a little pain in his right knee, but he also felt fear.
The Astros’ second baseman had just stumbled out of the batter’s box, scurried to his feet and beat out an errant throw for an infield single. He also had a noticeable limp when he made his way back to first base.
“Absolutely (I was scared),” Altuve said after the Astros’ 3-1 American League Division Series Game 2 win over the Indians on Saturday. “You don’t want to be hurt in the playoffs. That’s why I was like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ But, after a couple minutes, it just went away.” Astros manager A.J. Hinch and trainer Jeremiah Randall hurried out of the dugout to check on their second baseman, but Altuve said the pain he felt already was subsiding.
“It’s not easy to hit the ball, go down, stand up and run in a close play, so I was a little sore after that play,” Altuve said. “... But it went away.”
Not only did Altuve stay in the game, but he was running on a 3-2 count to
Alex Bregman that resulted in a walk, and then he scored on a Marwin Gonzalez double. Earlier this season, Altuve spent almost a month on the disabled list with what the team called right knee discomfort, which led to some of Altuve’s apprehension when he felt pain in the same knee.
“He’s been battling this for most of the second half,” Hinch said. “He went on the DL with it. There was a little bit of a scare, a little bit of uncertainty . ... I mean, it’s October, man. He probably doesn’t feel great, but I think he’ll be fine.”