HOUSTON \u2014 In the first inning of a season-defining homestand, the injury-ravaged Astros may have absorbed an absolute worst-case scenario.<\/p>\n
Left fielder Yordan Alvarez, one of Houston\u2019s hottest hitters, sprained his left ankle after touching home plate to score the Astros\u2019 second run of the game.<\/p>\n
Alvarez walked in his first plate appearance and tried to score from first base on a throwing error from Texas Rangers starter Jack Leiter. Alvarez ran through a stop sign from third-base coach Tony Perezchica and did not slide into home plate.<\/p>\n
After touching the plate, Alvarez appeared in immediate discomfort near the first-base dugout. On-deck hitter Christian Walker and manager Joe Espada grabbed Alvarez to stop his momentum before assistant athletic trainer Eric Velazquez hurried to the scene.<\/p>\n
\ufeff\ufeff<\/p>\n
Alvarez made it down the dugout stairs with a significant limp and ample help from Velazquez.<\/p>\n
He did not appear to play defense in the second inning. Rookie Zach Cole replaced him in the Astros\u2019 lineup.<\/p>\n
Losing Alvarez for any length of time would stagger an already inconsistent Astros lineup. Houston entered play on Monday averaging the seventh-fewest runs in baseball, a byproduct of injuries throughout the season that have, at points, rendered their lineup unrecognizable.<\/p>\n
Alvarez had one of the worst, missing 100 games from May until mid-August with a fractured right hand. He returned on Aug. 26 and had slashed .369\/.455\/.569 across his first 77 plate appearances back.<\/p>\n
The Astros entered play on Monday trailing the Seattle Mariners by a game in the American League West and with only a two-game cushion over the Rangers for the third AL Wild Card spot.<\/p>\n
Houston will face both teams during this six-game homestand, one it may have to navigate without its most feared hitter.<\/p>\n
(Photo: Erik Williams \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sep 16, 2025<\/p>\n
Connections: Sports Edition<\/p>\n
Spot the pattern. Connect the terms<\/p>\n
Find the hidden link between sports terms<\/p>\n
Play today’s puzzle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 In the first inning of a season-defining homestand, the injury-ravaged Astros may have absorbed an absolute…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5163,591,85],"class_list":["post-146300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-houston-astros","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}