Alvarez likely won’t need IL for his knee
SAN DIEGO — The Astros “dodged a major bullet” after designated hitter Yordan Alvarez fouled a ball off his left knee and exited their 10-2 loss Saturday against the Padres.
X-rays on Alvarez’s knee were negative, manager Dusty Baker said, and the team does not believe Alvarez will need a stint on the injured list. Alvarez did not start Sunday’s series finale but pinch-hit during the seventh inning, striking out against San Diego reliever Craig Stammen.
“More than likely, he’ll hopefully be ready tomorrow or the next day,” Baker said before Sunday’s game. “Right now, he’s day-today.”
Given the grisly nature of the injury, the news felt welcomed.
In the fifth inning Saturday, during his third plate appearance of the game, Alvarez fouled a 1-1 cutter from Padres starter Joe Musgrove off his left knee. He immediately fell facefirst onto the dirt upon impact and writhed in pain.
Alvarez eventually sat up but required ample assistance from trainer Jeremiah Randall and first baseman Yuli Gurriel to walk into Houston’s dugout and down the stairs to the clubhouse.
“He was getting around a lot better as time went on,” Baker said after the game. “We dodged a major bullet there because it looked terrible when he went down. He must have some strong bones, because that ball was hit hard off his kneecap.”
Alvarez underwent surgery on both knees last August but has played pain-free throughout the season. He made his 28th start in left field Saturday, far more than many anticipated before the season, and leads the team with an .881 OPS and 28 home runs.
Click says Castro making progress
The Astros hope backup catcher Jason Castro’s knee injury is “a very shortterm thing,” general manager James Click said Sunday morning, lending hope the veteran could return before the end of the regular season.
“The returns right now have been very positive,” Click said Sunday on the team’s pregame radio show.
Castro recently started to squat, hit off a tee and run on an anti-gravity treadmill, Click said. Houston placed Castro on the injured list Aug. 29 with soreness in his right knee, which has been surgically repaired twice already in his career.
Other than to say Castro sought a second opinion on the injury, the Astros have not specified the extent of his situation. The team brought catcher Michael Papierski onto its taxi squad and signed veteran Drew Butera to a minor league deal to deliver some sorely needed depth.
Fan favorite returns to bigs
The Astros selected Marwin Gonzalez to their major league roster before Sunday’s series finale against the Padres, providing the utilityman a monthlong audition for possible inclusion on Houston’s playoff roster. Houston optioned reliever Josh James to clear a spot on its active roster for Gonzalez.
Gonzalez affords the Astros more versatile infield depth on their expanded 28-man roster but shouldn’t draw many starts while the American League West remains in the balance. Aledmys Díaz has the same versatility, is a far better offensive player and figures to draw starts on days when the Astros’ regular infielders need a break.
“We don’t know how we’re going to use (Gonzalez),” Baker said. “The game’s going to dictate how we’re going to use him. We can use him in a couple different ways. We’ve got a couple weapons now we can use, both him and Díaz. I’ve got to lay some eyes on him and see what I see.”
Though his signing brought sentimental joy to Houston’s fanbase, Gonzalez is staring at long odds to stick around on the major league roster. Since leaving the Astros after the 2018 season, Gonzalez has a .660 OPS in 933 major league plate appearances. His 77 OPS+ in that span is 23 points lower than league average.
Gonzalez’s most obvious role is as a late-game righthanded pinch hitter against lefthanded pitching. The switch-hitting utilityman has a .754 OPS hitting righthanded this season and a .170/.267/.216 slash line from the left side.
Taylor Jones’ emergence as a viable righthanded pinch-hit threat only complicates Gonzalez’s path to a potential playoff roster. Jones, who is currently on the COVID-19 injured list, has 11 extrabase hits in 35 games this season.
Gonzalez provides far more defensive versatility and a playoff pedigree, but the Astros now have a month to gauge whether that merits a spot beyond September.
Skeeters’ Salazar hits walkoff single
Cesar Salazar’s ninthinning RBI single gave the Sugar Land Skeeters a 3-2 walkoff win over the Las Vegas Aviators on Sunday night at Constellation Field.
Las Vegas got all its scoring on a two-run firstinning homer from Carlos Perez off Jonathan Bermudez. The Skeeters tied the game on Ronnie Dawson’s two-run single in the fifth.
The Aviators threatened in the eighth when three of the first four batters walked against Bryan Abreu. But Abreu struck out Nate Mondou and Mickey McDonald to leave all three runners stranded, giving him three Ks in the inning.