HOUSTON — Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve exited Wednesday’s game with what the team described as right side discomfort after appearing to injure himself during a fifth-inning at-bat.
Altuve summoned manager Joe Espada and trainer Jeremiah Randall after fouling off a 2-1 pitch from Oakland A’s starter Joey Estes. Altuve remained in the game after a brief conversation, bunted the next pitch foul to strike out and immediately descended into the Astros’ clubhouse.
Last season, Altuve missed time with oblique issues on both sides of his body. Soreness in his right oblique cost him four games from June 3-6, 2023. That July, Altuve spent 18 days on the injured list with what the Astros described as left oblique discomfort he experienced while taking a swing in pregame batting practice.
Altuve awoke Wednesday one home run away from a 20/20 season and as the catalyst of a top-heavy lineup that can ill afford to lose him with October looming. Altuve’s .304 batting average and 174 OPS+ trailed only Yordan Alvarez for the team lead.
Altuve had a hit in 14 of his first 33 September at-bats and appeared en route to a turnaround following an average August. On multiple occasions last month, Altuve called this season “difficult” and “different,” descriptors that do not do his numbers justice.
Jose Altuve was in pain after this swing and has now exited the game pic.twitter.com/JC2LdHZRHt
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 12, 2024
“He’s had some inconsistencies in his mechanics, approach, all that,” hitting coach Alex Cintrón said this month. “One thing that we have to consider is last year he played, what, 90 games? This year, he’s played a lot.”
Altuve appeared in just 90 games last season after fracturing his thumb in the World Baseball Classic. This year, at age 34, he’s already played 1,161 defensive innings and started 140 of the Astros’ first 145 games, a byproduct of Houston’s 12-24 start and the urgency with which it had to play to climb out of it.
“The body gets a little bit more tired, you get into bad habits, can’t get into your legs for some mechanical stuff you used to do,” Cintrón said. “Mentally, you get drained. But I feel like he’s having a good year and he’s going to have a good year again. He still has a chance to hit .300, go 20/20.”
Wednesday may have halted that pursuit.
(Photo: Leslie Plaza Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
