HOUSTON \u2014 The scene is synonymous with this star-crossed season, a moment of celebration muted by catastrophe. The Astros have withstood every one they\u2019ve witnessed, walking a tightrope that few of their fellow playoff contenders must navigate.<\/p>\n
The resilience is impressive. Monday invited wonder over how long the club can maintain it. The Astros opened a season-defining homestand by scoring two first-inning runs against the Texas Rangers, harnessing the aggression and urgency these six games will require.<\/p>\n
After Yordan Alvarez scored the second, he doubled over in distress. The replay of what he endured is not for the faint of heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a front-row seat,\u201d said shortstop Jeremy Pe\u00f1a, who scored ahead of Alvarez. \u201cHis ankle kind of twisted. Then, when he went to plant again, I saw it twist again. It\u2019s not pretty. You don\u2019t want to see that, especially Yordan \u00c1lvarez. We need him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether the Astros will have him again feels like a legitimate question. Alvarez sprained his left ankle and will undergo an MRI on Tuesday. He exited Houston\u2019s clubhouse wearing a walking boot and using crutches.<\/p>\n
Eleven games remain in the regular season, meaning even the best-case scenario could still sideline Alvarez until a potential postseason series. According to a team spokesman, Alvarez wanted to receive more information about his injury before addressing reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt did not look good on the field,\u201d manager Joe Espada said after Houston\u2019s 6-3 win.<\/p>\n
\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n
Espada lept out of the dugout upon realizing Alvarez had injured himself. Both the skipper and on-deck hitter Christian Walker grabbed Alvarez to stop his momentum. Assistant athletic trainer Eric Velazquez hurried to the scene and escorted Alvarez down the dugout steps. A hush came over the cheering crowd of 30,484 fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilence in the dugout,\u201d Espada admitted, \u201cbut I do have to say this: once he went into the tunnel, you could hear (in) the dugout, the guys saying \u2018Let\u2019s go, we have to pick him up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Such is the refrain for this Astros season. Alvarez\u2019s replacement, rookie Zach Cole, drove in three of Houston\u2019s six runs. Eight days ago, Cole was hitting second in his 12th Triple-A game. On Monday, in the middle of a pennant race, he gave Houston a lead with a two-run home run against Jack Leiter \u2014 again hitting second in the batting order.<\/p>\n
Summoning Cole last week for a spark seemed like desperation. Now, he could be Alvarez\u2019s heir apparent.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a rush,\u201d said Cole, who is 6-for-13 in his first four major-league games. \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of here and there, a lot of sleepless nights and losing some weight because I can\u2019t eat too much (because) I have so much adrenaline.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a very welcoming experience. These guys are great in here and they\u2019ve done a really good job making me feel at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nothing better explains the Astros\u2019 ability to absorb all of this. Their injured list grew as big as 18 players in mid-July. Three of their starting pitchers have already undergone season-ending elbow surgeries. Two others, Spencer Arrighetti and Luis Garcia, will not pitch again this season. Nor will six-time All-Star closer Josh Hader.<\/p>\n
\ufeff<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a missed 27 games after fracturing his left rib. Center fielder Jake Meyers missed 49 after crumpling to the ground with a calf strain \u2014 hours after being cleared by the Astros\u2019 embattled medical staff to play in the game. Alvarez fractured his hand in late May and did not return until Aug. 26.<\/p>\n
When he did, Alvarez slashed .369\/.455\/.569 across his first 77 plate appearances. He worked a walk in the first inning on Monday against Leiter. Carlos Correa followed with a slow tapper to the pitcher, who threw the baseball from his backside into right field.<\/p>\n
Pe\u00f1a scored easily from second base. Third-base coach Tony Perezchica appeared to be holding Alvarez at third. He ran home anyway, did not slide and scored before the throw even reached home plate. After touching it, Alvarez appeared in immediate discomfort.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew it wasn\u2019t pretty,\u201d Pe\u00f1a said.<\/p>\n
Losing Alvarez for any length of time will stagger an already inconsistent Astros lineup. Houston entered play on Monday having scored the seventh-fewest runs in baseball. The aforementioned injuries impacted that production, but underwhelming seasons from Christian Walker and Yainer Diaz have compounded the problem. So has Jose Altuve\u2019s two-month slump.<\/p>\n
If Alvarez is out, Altuve should assume most of the designated hitter duties, much like he did while Alvarez nursed the hand fracture. Pressure will shift to trade deadline acquisition Jes\u00fas S\u00e1nchez to show any sort of pulse.<\/p>\n
Rookie Cam Smith could become more prominent. Cole could also contribute in one of the corner outfield spots, much like he did on a Monday where two positives appeared as palate cleansers. One: the Astros won, extending their lead over the Rangers to three games for the final American League Wild Card spot.<\/p>\n
Allow Espada to explain the other.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players recognized that we\u2019re in the middle of the fight (and) one of the big boys just went down,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead of going down and using it as \u2018Oh shit, here we go, another injury,\u2019 instead it was \u2018We have to pick him up.\u2019 I thought that was a big moment for us to get over that little moment there with one of our best players going down.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo: AP \/ Karen Warren)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 The scene is synonymous with this star-crossed season, a moment of celebration muted by catastrophe. The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":230820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[2382,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-230819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-houston-astros","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115212846724558336","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}