Inflammation in left shoulder puts rest of Keuchel’s season in doubt
CLEVELAND — With the Astros already facing an uphill battle in the American League wild-card race, their odds at making a second consecutive postseason took a huge hit Monday.
Lefthander Dallas Keuchel, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner and their most important starting pitcher, was shut down from throwing after a diagnosis of inflammation in his pitching shoulder. Keuchel
did not accompany the Astros to Cleveland, instead flying back to Houston, where he visited with team
doctors Monday.
In addition to scratching him from a start that had been scheduled for Tuesday against the Indians, the Astros have already ruled out their ace’s starting this weekend against the Cubs. With only 25 games left on the schedule, the rest of the pitcher’s season is shrouded in doubt.
“I don’t know,” manager A.J. Hinch said when asked if he thought Keuchel would pitch again this season. “We’ll have to get back and see how all of these tests come back and how he continues to feel.
“We tried to give him some gaps in time in giving him some rest periods. That hasn’t solved it. He’s going to go see the doctors he needs to see, and until he’s pain-free, he’s not throwing. Where we’re at in the calendar is going to bring the obvious questions, but we just don’t know right now.”
At the very least, the Astros will be forced to navigate consecutive series against the first-place Indians, Cubs and Rangers without Keuchel and Lance McCullers, who has yet to throw off a mound in his rehab from an early August elbow sprain and isn’t scheduled to do so this week, according to Hinch.
Brad Peacock will be summoned from Class AAA to start against the Indians on Tuesday opposite Cy Young Award candidate Corey Kluber.
Originally slated to start last Friday’s series opener against the Rangers, Keuchel was pushed back, first to Saturday or Sunday and then to Tuesday, because of what the Astros described as fatigue and soreness. Keuchel played catch Sunday in Arlington but “didn’t feel great,” Hinch said, at which point the team opted to send him back to Houston for further evaluation, which included an MRI.
August was Keuchel’s best month in an inconsistent season. He shut out the Rangers on Aug. 5 and, after a clunker against the Cardinals, had back-toback starts of at least seven innings with two runs or fewer allowed against the Orioles and Rays.
It wasn’t until after his last start against Tampa Bay that Keuchel first felt the atypical soreness, according to Hinch. (The pitcher was not available for comment Monday and likely won’t address his status until the homestand that begins Friday.)
“It’s a difficult blow in that our rotation is going to need to have guys step up and pitch well to keep us in games,” Hinch said. “It’s never easy. I think every team this time of year, regardless of whether you’re in it or not, probably has some circumstances they’ve had to overcome. This is going to be ours.”