Oblique injury sends Altuve to IL
HOUSTON — Astros second baseman Jose Altuve was placed on the 10day injured list with left oblique discomfort Thursday, the team announced prior to its series opener against the Mariners.
The move is retroactive to July 4. Altuve was injured during batting practice Tuesday, did not play the past two games and had an MRI on Wednesday.
The backdated IL stint means Altuve, if recovered, would be eligible to return after the All-star Break when Houston opens the second half with a series starting July 14 at Anaheim.
Astros GM Dana Brown said on Wednesday that the team was taking a cautious approach to the three-time American League batting champion's return.
“I don't think there's any rush to bring him back,” Brown said. “I've talked about this before
with the obliques of some of the other players. These injuries are really complicated, and so sometimes the best thing is rest. And so I think right now it would be my opinion, strong opinion, as to just giving him some rest and let it play out.”
Altuve was taken out of the lineup before Tuesday's 4-1 win over the Rockies with what the Astros cited as left oblique discomfort.
A similar oblique issue caused Altuve to miss four games in early June.
The second baseman missed two games with a sore heel last week, one in Los Angeles and one in St. Louis, but returned and played in the last six games of the Astros' road trip that ended Monday.
Altuve also missed the team's first 43 games of the season recovering from a broken thumb suffered during the World Baseball Classic this spring. He returned May 19 and has since played in 32 games, 31 of them starts at second base, while slashing .265/.371/.479
with 18 RBI and six home runs.
The Astros are also contending with the absences of injured players Yordan Alvarez and Michael Brantley, the latter of whom encountered what Brown described as another “setback” this week. The Astros ordered Brantley to stop all baseball activities for at least three to four days after he experienced discomfort in his surgically repaired right shoulder while ramping up.
“We had a little bit of a
setback, some discomfort, but at the end of the day, it's nowhere near like it was before when we had to shut him down for a couple of weeks,” Brown said. “We think it's like a three or four day thing. Let him rest a little bit.”
The Astros also recalled righthander Ronel Blanco, who will start Thursday, and infielder David Hensley before the game. Lefthander Parker Mushinski was optioned to Triple-a after Wednesday's game against Colorado.