Castro heads to IL; Stubbs called back up
ARLINGTON — The Astros on Sunday placed catcher Jason Castro on the injured list and called up Garrett Stubbs from Class AAA Sugar Land.
Ahead of Sunday’s series finale against the Rangers, Astros manager Dusty Baker said the club sent Castro back to Houston to “get his knee checked out.” Stubbs traveled to meet the Astros in Arlington and continue on with them to Seattle and San Diego.
The Astros described Castro’s ailment as right knee discomfort and said his placement on the injured list is retroactive to Aug. 26.
On Wednesday, Castro entered the game as a defensive replacement at catcher on versus the Royals. He did not play in the first two games of the Rangers series.
Correa gets day off; Díaz starts at short
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa took a planned day of rest and was not in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Rangers.
Baker had previously said he wanted to get Correa a break during the three-game series, and on Sunday started utilityman Aledmys Díaz at shortstop.
“(Correa) needed the physical day off. We talked about this probably a week ago,” Baker said. “Communication is the key when you’re trying to put this together, but I’ve said a number of times how much we missed Díaz when he was out. He was out six weeks. We tried everybody over there, just none of ’em were Díaz.”
Alex Bregman started at third base for the third consecutive game Sunday, a sign that he is feeling good since he came off the IL this week.
Baker said he consulted with Bregman and trainers before setting the lineup and noted that Bregman had a light workload in Saturday’s 5-2 Astros win.
Urquidy earns win in his rehab start
José Urquidy put together a solid rehab start, striking out five over five innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and picking up the win in the Sugar Land Skeeters’ 5-1 victory over the El Paso Chihuahuas on Sunday night in El Paso.
A three-run homer by J.J. Matijevic in the top of the fourth and a two-run shot by Miguelangel Sierra in the fifth provided all the scoring for the Skeeters (58-42).
The lone run for the Chihuahuas (40-59) came on a Luis Campusano solo homer off Urquidy in the fourth. Caleb Boushley allowed five runs on five hits, walking three and striking out two in 42⁄3 innings to take the loss.
Odds and ends
Baker said he was discussing whether the team would take extra players on the taxi squad to Seattle for a three-game series beginning Monday. … Chas McCormick, on the 10-day IL since Tuesday, is swinging the bat well, Baker said. General manager James Click said on the radio Sunday that McCormick will play rehab games Monday and Tuesday for Class AAA Sugar Land in El Paso and could be activated by the Astros on Friday.