Team’s No. 1 holder on hold
CLEVELAND — The Astros placed All-Star setup man Ryan Pressly on the injured list Wednesday with right knee soreness, ending nearly a week’s worth of uncertainty surrounding his availability on any given night.
Pressly threw off the Progressive Field bullpen mound before Wednesday’s game against the Indians alongside pitching coach Brent Strom and head trainer Jeremiah Randall. Manager A.J. Hinch offered no concrete update on the pitcher’s status. Pressly was unavailable for comment, according to a team spokesman.
“It ended up being a situation where we didn’t want to show up to the ballpark not knowing,” Hinch said. “The ‘throw in the afternoon and wait to see if he’s feeling good to go for the game’ wasn’t good for him or our team.”
One of the top relievers in baseball this season, Pressly shares the major league lead with 23 holds and has a 2.03 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP and a 55:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 441⁄3 innings.
The IL move was retroactive to Saturday. The earliest Pressly can return is Tuesday.
Since he was struck on the right knee by a ball hit by the Angels’ Andrelton Simmons on July 18, Pressly has pitched twice. He threw an eight-pitch scoreless inning on July 24 against the A’s before being lit up by the Cardinals on Friday.
Pressly did not retire any of the three St. Louis hitters he faced during the 5-3 loss. Paul Goldschmidt demolished a game-winning threerun homer against him. Afterward, Hinch acknowledged he was “very concerned” about Pressly’s knee and how it was affecting his performance.
Righthander Bryan Abreu was recalled from Class AA Corpus Christi to take Pressly’s spot on the 25man roster. The 22-year-old Dominican has one of the organization’s best curveballs and struck out 10.8 batters per nine innings in 552⁄3 Double-A innings.
Despite the fact Abreu had never pitched above high A, the Astros placed him on the 40-man roster this offseason as protection from the Rule 5 draft. He had a 5.17 ERA with the Hooks and struggled sometimes with his control, walking 5.2 per nine innings.