MIXED NEWS
Kyle Tucker goes on injured list, while Yuli Gurriel returns in win.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The day after Kyle Tucker hit a grand slam to lift the Astros to victory over the Angels, the team on Saturday placed him on the injured list because of health and safety protocols.
Astros manager Dusty Baker said he did not know when Tucker might return and declined to say whether the right fielder had tested positive for COVID-19. Tucker’s absence dulled the excitement surrounding the return of first baseman Yuli Gurriel, who was reactivated Saturday after missing 11 days with neck stiffness.
“That’s tough, because we were hoping to be whole, and we get Yuli but we lose Tuck,” Baker said. “We’ve lost a number of key guys and a number of key players through the course of the year, and I’m proud of them for how they’ve fought and fought. Even though we’re having a good year, it’s been tough, but these things make you stronger. And someday soon, hopefully, we’ll get back to whole.”
Gurriel had missed nine games over an 11-day stint on the injured list because of neck stiffness that began bothering him while the Astros were on a road trip playing the Dodgers at the beginning of August. He was eligible to be reactivated Friday, but the team waited until Saturday.
“I think it was just one more day to get my body together to get right to be physically ready to be back out there,” Gurriel said through an interpreter. “So I think taking one more day was a good idea.”
Almost every regular Astros starter has missed time this season on the injured list. Jose Altuve tested positive for COVID-19 in April, which sent him and four other players, including Yordan Alvarez and Martín Maldonado, into health and safety protocols. Michael Brantley missed 12 games with a hamstring issue. Carlos Correa missed three games with an illness. Aledmys Díaz returned only recently after seven weeks spent recovering from a broken hand. Alex Bregman remains mired in a drawn-out rehab process for a strained quad.
Tucker previously missed seven games because of health and safety protocols from June 16-23, when he said he lost 10 pounds because of a nonCOVID-19 stomach bug.
“I’m just hoping he’s not out too long because you see how long it took him and Carlos to get their strokes back last time,” Baker said. “You just don’t come back the same way that you left.”
Gurriel took over Tucker’s roster spot and was back in Saturday’s lineup at first base, while rookie
Jake Meyers started in right field. Gurriel taking Tucker’s roster spot saved the Astros from having to send down another player, which likely would have been infielder Jacob Wilson or Taylor Jones.
Bregman pleased by rehab progress
Bregman’s “best day yet” did not include any actual game action, making it six straight days without playing in a minor league game since the Astros prematurely removed him from his original minor league rehab assignment.
Bregman said he did not know whether he’d play on Sunday for Class AAA Sugar Land. He has not played in a minor league game since Aug. 7. Saturday’s game against the Angels was Bregman’s 47th MLB game missed since straining his left quad June 16.
Right hamstring soreness briefly set him back earlier this month, and he combated hamstring problems in spring training, too.
Bregman said the team’s plan for him is progressing without incident, but general manager James Click and Baker intimated last week that Bregman would resume playing games at the start of Sugar Land’s homestand.
Asked Saturday whether he fears Bregman might not be back this season, Baker said, “I don’t know that. I mean, we still got forty something games to go, right? So we’re a ways away from making that decision.”
Urquidy takes step in recovery
Astros injured starter José Urquidy threw live batting practice Saturday for the first time since going on the injured list June 30, Baker said.
Urquidy threw 34 pitches to hitters at the Astros’ facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. He will require a minor league rehab assignment before rejoining the big-league club. Baker previously said a September return appeared likely.
Urquidy departed his June 29 start with right shoulder discomfort, a similar injury to the one that bothered him earlier this season. An MRI revealed no structural damage to his shoulder.
Defensive slip dooms Skeeters
J.J. Matijevic hit his 10th homer of the year, a threerun shot, but the Sugar Land Skeeters allowed four unanswered runs and lost 4-3 to the Albuquerque Isotopes on Saturday at Constellation Field.
With Seth Martinez pitching, the Isotopes (40-46) scored two runs to take the lead on a fielding error by third baseman Sean Mendoza. Martinez took the loss, allowing two unearned runs over two innings with two strikeouts for the Skeeters (47-39). Nelson Gonzalez struck out two and walked three in an inning of work for the win.