Eleven 10-homer players ties MLB mark

OAKLAND, Calif. — Marwin Gonzalez hit a solo home run to left field in the seventh inning Wednesday night against the A’s to help the Astros tie baseball’s single-season record for the most players with at least 10 home runs.

Gonzalez became the 11th Astros player to homer at least 10 times this season, tying the record the Detroit Tigers set in 2004.

Gonzalez joins Jose Altuve, George Springer, Evan Gattis, Colby Rasmus, Hank Conger, Jason Castro, Carlos Correa, Chris Carter, Luis Valbuena and Preston Tucker in the Astros’ double-digit home run club this season.

Gonzalez’s home run was the Astros’ fourth Wednesday against the A’s and their 192nd of the season to tie the Blue Jays for the most home runs in the majors.

Carter working to stay ready

Although his playing time has diminished significantly since early August, Astros slugger Chris Carter vows to continue working to help the club when A.J. Hinch calls on him again.

“We’re trying to win here,” Carter said. “A.J’s trying to put the best team on the field that he thinks is going to win, so it’s a manager’s decision.”

Carter shows up for early batting practice at least once a week and takes extra swings in the indoor cages daily.

“It’s just hard to get those consistent reps in,” Carter said. “It’s something you have to keep working on every day. When you’re not playing, just keep working in the cage. When you get on the field, hopefully the things you’ve been working on work for you.”

Injured Feldman to have more tests

Righthanded starter Scott Feldman, who has not pitched since leaving his Sept. 1 outing early with right shoulder irritation, returned to Houston on Wednesday night.

“He’s going to get more testing done,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It might include an additional cortisone shot. We’re still in the evaluation stage. He hasn’t made any progress yet, but he’s continuing to get opinions on his shoulder.”

Feldman isn’t expected to rejoin the team when the Astros play a threegame series against the Angels at Anaheim this weekend.

Sipp, Castro making progress

Lefthanded reliever Tony Sipp, who has not pitched since Aug. 26 because of a lower back ailment, threw a bullpen session Wednesday morning at Minute Maid Park.

Sipp threw to catcher Jason Castro, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right quad. The duo executed the bullpen session while workers set up for Taylor Swift’s concert.

“It sounds like Sipp came out of it feeling OK,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “They’re both going to join us in Anaheim.”

Castro is not eligible to come off the disabled list until Monday, when the Astros take on the Rangers in Arlington. It’s unclear if he’ll be ready.

“I think (Castro) is making progress, but he still hasn’t done anything rigorous until he gets to us in L.A.,” Hinch said.

Hinch will wait until he visits with Sipp to know if he can use the lefthander. Castro has even more steps to go.

“He just caught a simple bullpen, so there wasn’t evaluation on how he looked,” Hinch said. “I know he was able to do it and do it without pain and felt pretty good about it.”

Rasmus homers in return to lineup

Outfielder Colby Rasmus hit a homer and scored three runs in his return to the Astros’ starting lineup Wednesday night after being unavailable the previous two games against the A’s because of an illness.

“He’s been under the weather for a few days since we left Houston,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “He hasn’t felt very well. He was coughing quite a bit. He had a temperature. He was down for a couple of days.”