Sneed returns as sore shoulder puts James on IL
HOUSTON — The Astros on Tuesday placed righthanded reliever Josh James on the 10-day injured list because of shoulder soreness and called up righthander Cy Sneed from Triple-A Round Rock.
After manager A.J. Hinch had written up a lineup card for Tuesday’s game against the Athletics at Minute Maid Park, he checked in with James.
The plan had been to rest James, whose pitch velocity has drastically fallen in recent outings, for another day, but James reported that his soreness persisted. The IL was the inevitable next step.
“We’re not going to mess around with any day-to-day stuff,” Hinch said.
The manager did not know the severity of James’ injury, saying: “No clue.”
The Astros do not play Thursday or Monday, which could help preserve the vitality of the bullpen.
James has thrown 511⁄3 innings in his second major league season after totaling 1371⁄3 in the minors and majors last season. In nine July appearances this year, his ERA is 5.40.
The sudden roster decision inspired the Astros to get a new arm to the ballpark as quickly as possible. “I don’t want to have any game where we don’t have enough pitching,” Hinch said.
Shortly after 3 p.m., the team notified Sneed he was being called up. He immediately got moving and drove east.
“We’re lucky that we have Round Rock only a couple hours away,” Hinch said. “He’ll stop at Buc-ee’s for a quick snack.”
Sneed likely will be used the same way he was in two previous appearances of long relief. He gave up 13 hits and five runs in 11 innings.
The Astros had sent Sneed back to the minors to make room for reliever Joe Smith’s return from injury.
Hinch wants to rest Pressly’s sore knee
Astros manager A.J. Hinch said reliever Ryan Pressly still is suffering from the ache of having been “smoked in the knee by Andrelton Simmons” on a comebacker last Thursday against the Angels in Anaheim. The manager has steered clear of using his best reliever since.
On Tuesday, Hinch did not sound optimistic in regard to Pressly’s availability.
“He’s doing OK,” Hinch said. “I’ve been cautious with him, actually trying not to use him until I absolutely have to.”
Alvarez too valuable to be out of lineup
When the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez in June, expectations were that his best way to stay in the lineup would to be prove he could be an adroit left fielder.
Approaching two months later, his bat is too valuable for the team to go days without it, so the designated hitter spot belongs almost exclusively to Alvarez.
To go with his MLB rookie-record 35 RBIs in his first 30 games, Alvarez is hitting .342 with a 1.130 OPS. Since his debut on June 9, he ranks second in the American League in OPS, third in slugging and is tied for third in RBIs.
Manager A.J. Hinch also learned that for all the time the franchise spent honing Alvarez in the outfield in the minors and during spring training, it had overlooked an unforeseen challenge for the 6-5, 225-pound Cuban, who recently turned 22. He does not have the stamina in his legs to be a daily outfielder. Not yet at least.
After playing four consecutive games in left field from June 15-18, Alvarez needed days of rest to recover from knee soreness.
Installing him at DH was a logical solution, but Hinch suggested the team will compete in its upcoming interleague series in St. Louis against the Cardinals without its most powerful cleanup hitter in the lineup.
“I wish we had a DH in the National League so I could use him every day this weekend,” Hinch said. “He might play one game out there in the outfield.”
Since the four consecutive games that sapped Alvarez’s knees, he played in the field for only three innings on June 27 and eight on July 7.
“I’ll be cautious,” Hinch said.