Correa celebrates return with inside-the-park home run
One day after he could only play two innings due to a bruised left big toe, shortstop Carlos Correa returned to the Astros’ starting lineup on Tuesday against the Orioles — the day he and his teammates received their World Series rings. His toe appeared fine. Correa launched a stand-up, two-run, inside-the-park home run in the first inning, galloping around the basepaths with no discernible impediment. Orioles left fielder Trey Mancini bobbled Correa's ball — hit at 99 mph and traveling 378 feet — and caused it to roll around the outfield. By the time center fielder Adam Jones corralled it, Correa was touching third.
Statcast said Correa rounded the bases in 16.39 seconds.
“I went to sleep with the mindset that I wanted to play today no matter what,” Correa said beforehand. “it’s a special day, we’re getting our rings, and I wanted to be out there with my team on a special day, a special occasion.”
Correa fouled a ball off his left foot during Sunday’s game against the Rangers. He woke up Monday morning and acknowledged he was stiff before trying to play through the pain that evening.
The experiment lasted only two innings. Manager A.J. Hinch lifted him and Correa received X-rays that he said came back negative.
Correa said he received extra padding in his cleats to ease the discomfort.
“I think he can move to tolerance and we’re going to take another shot at him playing,” Hinch said Tuesday. “It’s really just an annoyance more than it’s an injury and he’s going to have to handle a little bit of discomfort.”
Hinch hinted Correa will have an off day on Wednesday, the series finale against Baltimore, to give him two full off days before Friday’s home series against San Diego begins. The team has an off day Thursday.
Gurriel lands on 10-day disabled list
Yuli Gurriel’s somewhat surprising assignment to the 10-day disabled list — effective on Tuesday afternoon — came after the Astros determined the first baseman’s live batting practices and simulated games in West Palm Beach were “not good enough” to warrant activating him.
“He never had a chance to play in real games — a lot of simulation, a lot of BPs, not a ton of time on defense,” manager A.J. Hinch said Tuesday. “The more we looked at it, the more we realized it was probably more beneficial to him and more beneficial to our team if he was ready to play at the major league level when he’s activated.”
After reiterating there was no setback or issue with Gurriel’s progress in West Palm Beach, Hinch acknowledged Gurriel “probably doesn’t need” the full 10-day complement.
The Astros placed Gurriel on the restricted list last Thursday, on which he served the entirety of his five-game suspension following his gesture toward Yu Darvish in the World Series.
On hand for the club’s ring ceremony on Tuesday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the Astros handled the suspension “not only within the rules, but with the intent of the rules.”
By rule of his suspension, Gurriel could not attend Monday night’s pennant unveiling. He was not at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, either, to receive his ring.
Both Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow were more than optimistic he would not require a DL stint and be healthy enough to rejoin the club Tuesday. Both reiterated it often while in Arlington for the team’s season-opening series against the Rangers.
“The more we looked at it, the more we had a broader perspective and a longer term perspective on what’s going to happen,” Hinch said. “We could activate him tomorrow and be most of the way there in his rehab, but he hasn’t played defense, hasn’t taken at-bats, hasn’t stood on his feet for three hours like a (real) game. He’s just been practicing and we decided that’s not good enough.”
Weather permitting, the club hopes Gurriel can play in “five, six, maybe seven” minor league games with Class AA Corpus Christi, which opens its season on Thursday at Arkansas.
Gurriel is eligible to rejoin the Astros on April 13, when they open a three-game series against the Rangers at Minute Maid Park.