Caution being exercised with injured Altuve
Astros second baseman Jose Altuve on Saturday morning said his right hamstring strain has improved, but indications are he’ll probably sit out through the weekend despite being classified at day-to-day.
“I think we’re encouraged by the evaluation,” manager A. J. Hinch said before sitting Altuve Saturday. “He’ll be day-to-day for the next couple days, until he feels back to 100 percent. I know he and our trainer were encouraged by how he was evaluated today.”
Altuve was hurt running to first base in Friday’s 10-0 win over the Mariners and said he wasn’t previously bothered by the hamstring.
“It feels better than what I thought,” Altuve said Saturday. “Obviously I’m not playing today, but I feel way, way better than yesterday.”
Marwin Gonzalez again started at second base Saturday. The Astros have no other infielder on their bench besides the injured Altuve, but without revealing the specific possibilities, Hinch said the Astros would be OK were another infielder needed — i.e., were someone else to be hurt. intercostal strain brought on a setback. The righthander felt less than 100 percent and is headed back to Houston to be reevaluated, manager A.J. Hinch said.
Saturday was the 55th game Peacock missed because of the injury, which can take a long time to heal. The Astros dealt with a rash of intercostal and oblique injuries, which affect the crucial core and rib area, last season.
“I feel bad for him,” Hinch said. “I’m not sure what it means. I don’t want to rush to too many judgments ’til we talk to him, but to have this rehab stint interrupted is certainly not something he’s wanted or something we want.”
Peacock threw two scoreless innings and 37 pitches for Class AA Cor- pus Christi on Thursday. The immediate feeling Friday, the day after the outing, was positive.
“Pitched last night. The results looked pretty good; I saw the report form the game,” general manager Jeff Luhnow said Friday. “I do think a Peacock pitching to his potential can help us out.”
Peacock’s setback and Brett Oberholtzer’s dominant outing Friday ease a little pressure on Oberholtzer, whose spot in the rotation could’ve been taken by Peacock.
Evan Drellich