The Houston Astros spent 116 days in first place in the American League West this season, with Yordan Alvarez out much of that span as he missed 100 games due to a broken hand.
And if they are going to reclaim that spot — or even earn a wild-card berth — they will need to do it again without Alvarez. Now with a sprained left ankle, he will miss their home game Wednesday against the Texas Rangers and the three-game weekend set with the Seattle Mariners, who have taken a half-game lead in the division.
“We need him in there, but those are the things that we can’t control,” manager Joe Espada said. “But we do have guys here that understand the situation that we’re in. We’ve got talent, we’ve got guys that want it, we’ve got guys that can fight and get us through this stretch, and I expect those guys to do just that.”
The Astros (83-69) won the first two games of the series against the Rangers (79-73), who now sit 3 1/2 games out of the final AL wild-card spot with 10 games to play.
Houston has grown accustomed to playing without Alvarez this season, but his presence was a boon to their postseason hopes. In the 19 games after he returned Aug. 26 from the hand injury, he hit .369 with three home runs, nine RBIs and 12 walks.
He suffered his latest injury in the game Monday.
Right-hander Cristian Javier (1-3, 4.78 ERA) is the scheduled starter on Wednesday as Houston pursues the sweep. After throwing six hitless innings against the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 29, Javier dropped back-to-back decisions against the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays and allowed eight runs on 12 hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts across 10 1/3 innings.
His lone victory in six starts came in his season debut — his return from Tommy John surgery — against the Boston Red Sox on Aug. 11.
Javier is 6-1 with a 3.71 ERA across 15 career appearances (11 starts) against the Rangers.
Right-hander Jacob deGrom (12-7, 2.82 ERA) has the starting assignment for Texas.
He was the winning pitcher in the opener of Texas’ six-game road trip on Friday, defeating the New York Mets after allowing three runs on four hits with two strikeouts over seven innings in an 8-3 victory. deGrom has 28 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings over his past five starts.
deGrom is 1-1 with a 2.33 ERA in three career starts against the Astros, with each coming this season. Most recently, he allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with eight strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings in an 11-0 home loss to the Astros on Sept. 6.
With several frontline starters on the injured list, including All-Star middle infielders Marcus Semien (foot) and Corey Seager (appendectomy), Rangers manager Bruce Bochy has juggled his roster to utilize the hot bats as Texas continues its playoff push.
For Bochy, that challenge has thrust some younger players into the spotlight, leaving the Rangers to strike a balance between player comfort and stretch-run success.
“We are going with the hot hand,” Bochy said. “But you want to keep guys where they’re comfortable and where they’re having success. If you change that up, maybe they’re going to change, so you have to be aware of that too and not put them in a spot that they really haven’t been in.”
–Field Level Media
