The Houston Astros placed starter Mike Burrows on the major-league 15-day injured list due to elbow neuritis, the team announced Monday.
Burrows was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land on July 7 but had yet to pitch there. The Astros nullified the right-hander’s minor-league assignment and put him on the IL retroactive to July 7, they said.
Burrows was optioned to Triple-A following a start in which he allowed 10 runs — seven earned — against the Nationals. To that point, he was the only member of the Astros’ season-opening rotation to spend the full season on the active roster.
The start at Washington left Burrows at 94 ⅔ innings this season, nearing the 128 ⅓ innings he threw between Triple-A and the majors last year, his most in a professional season. He said afterward that he felt “good at this point” physically.
General manager Dana Brown said last week that sending Burrows to Triple-A was “difficult because we feel like he’s a big part of our future.”
“He has weapons, but he has to fine-tune them,” Brown said last Tuesday. “I know he was getting into uncharted territory in terms of (innings). He has options, we have control and we also have (rotation) options, so we felt like we should option him and let him get cleaned up and we can get him back here as soon as possible.”
The Astros did not provide further details Monday, the first day of the All-Star break, about Burrows’ prognosis or recovery timeline. Cristian Javier started Sunday’s series finale at Texas in the rotation spot vacated by Burrows.
• The Astros also optioned reliever Alimber Santa to Triple-A Sugar Land following Sunday’s game, they announced.
Santa has a 1.17 ERA in 15 ⅓ relief innings for the Astros this season. The move could open a roster spot for one of multiple Houston pitchers returning from injuries to be reinstated after the break