Following their 11-4 rout of the Rangers on Saturday night, the Astros officially placed second baseman José Altuve on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. Altuve was removed from Friday’s game with some soreness in his left hamstring and was unable to take the field again on Saturday, though comments from manager A.J. Hinch suggested that he’s dealing with a very mild injury.
While a concrete timetable for the infielder’s return has not been announced, it’s hard to believe he’ll need more than the minimum 10 days to make a complete recovery. Even so, Hinch added that the team still doesn’t know the full extent of Altuve’s injury and will have him meet with doctors at least one more time in the days to come.
In the meantime, he’ll be temporarily replaced by Aledmys Díaz and Yuli Gurriel at the keystone. Díaz handled the position in Altuve’s absence during Friday and Saturday’s games, and went 1-for-7 against the Rangers with a grand slam that helped power the team to a 3-0 series lead. The Astros will turn to Díaz a third time during Sunday’s series finale, as rookie Corbin Martin makes his MLB debut versus the Rangers’ Adrian Sampson at 2:10 PM EDT.