Baker tests positive for COVID-19
CLEVELAND — Astros manager Dusty Baker tested positive for COVID-19 before Friday night’s game against the Guardians, the club announced.
Astros bench coach Joe Espada managed the game in Baker’s place. A club spokesman said Baker, who is vaccinated against COVID-19, did not feel ill despite his positive test result.
Baker met with reporters in the dugout approximately two hours prior to the 7:10 p.m. first pitch at Progressive Field. Per MLB protocols, his return to the Astros will require either 10 days in isolation or two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart, whichever occurs first.
After Friday's game, Espada said no other Houston coaches or players were affected by COVID-19.
Díaz is day-to-day following collision
Astros utilityman Aledmys Díaz was held out of the starting lineup against the Guardians on Friday after he injured his finger in an outfield collision during the previous night’s game.
In the eighth inning of the Astros’ 6-0 win on Thursday, Díaz was playing left field when he and center fielder Jake Meyers, who entered the game as a defensive replacement that inning, collided on the warning track in pursuit of a fly ball.
Díaz immediately clutched at his left hand in pain, but after being checked out by a trainer he remained in the game.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said X-rays taken of Díaz’s left ring finger after the game revealed no fractures or broken bones.
Baker described Díaz’s status as “day-to-day” and said the utilityman might be available to pinch hit in Friday’s game. Díaz did not appear in Friday’s game.
Meyers was unhurt in the collision and started in center field on Friday.
Díaz has been integral to the Astros as a defensive stopgap at multiple positions, especially in left field as one of various replacements for the injured Michael Brantley.
Díaz’s bat has also boosted a top-heavy lineup Baker has described as “running on fumes.” In Díaz’s last seven games prior to Friday, he was batting .417 (10-for-24) with a 1.315 OPS.