“I don’t want to put a date on it, obviously,” Peña said. “But yeah, I think this could be a minimum-type thing.”
Astros manager Joe Espada reiterated the belief is Peña’s strain is “mild” and expressed hope that Peña could resume running after the team’s off day Thursday.
“I still feel strongly that it can be minimum time,” Espada said.
If Peña were to miss only 10 days, he could return for the July 10 opener of the Astros’ final series before the All-Star break against the Texas Rangers, who entered Tuesday leading the American League West. Peña will miss series against the Twins, Rays and Nationals, at least, due to the injury.
Peña on Tuesday said he was dealing with the calf issue for at least a week and that it “gradually, I would say, got worse” until he felt the need to alert the team. Espada said Peña had reported “leg discomfort” prior to Monday’s series opener against the Twins.
“I was feeling it I would say for the last week, week and a half,” Peña said. “I was kind of playing through it. And then like I said it was slowly just getting a little bit worse and a little bit worse every single day and it got to the point where I was like, ‘I need to say something,’ because I know there’s something there. So that’s what we did.”
“I feel like I’ve been doing a great job with my preparation before the games, I feel like I’ve been doing a great job of taking care of my body, and that’s just part of the game sometimes,” Peña said.
After returning May 18 from the hamstring injury, Peña posted a .307/.372/.471 slash line over 38 games before returning to the IL. Entering Tuesday, the Astros were 25-20 this season with Peña in the starting lineup and 17-25 with him absent.
Peña enjoyed a breakout last year, garnering his first All-Star selection and placing 10th in AL MVP voting. He ranked second among Astros players this season in wins above replacement, per Baseball Reference, entering Tuesday despite his limited number of games.
“It’s not a frustrating season,” Peña said. “You’ve got ebbs and flows of the season, you’ve got the ups and downs, and you’ve got to play it all. … There’s a lot of season left. Hoping I come back healthy and join the guys and pick back up. We have a long season to go.”