The Houston Astros took a hit to their rotation depth with the placement of Jake Odorizzi on the 15-day Injured List on Tuesday. The veteran hit the IL because of what the team described as lower left leg discomfort. Houston recalled reliever Seth Martinez from Triple-A to take Odorizzi’s spot on the active roster.
Odorizzi suffered the injury during Monday’s game against the Boston Red Sox. The right-hander came off the mound to cover first base, but collapsed on his way there. He laid on the ground for a while before being stretchered off the field. The severity of the injury is not yet known, but Odorizzi will be out for at least 15 days. The Astros have been employing a six-man rotation in recent weeks. With the injury to Odorizzi, Houston may return to the typical five-man rotation.
After a tough stretch to begin the season, Odorizzi had emerged as one of the Astros best pitchers. In his past four starts, the 32 year old has given up only two runs across 22 2/3 innings. Overall, in 31 2/3 innings, Odorizzi has a 3.13 ERA and a 1.168 WHIP.
Other Astros News
On Saturday, the Astros acquired utility-man Mauricio Dubon from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Minor League catcher Michael Papierski. Dubon has two hits in five at-bats since he was acquired. To make room on the active roster for Dubon, Houston optioned Niko Goodrum to Triple-A Sugar Land.
The Astros tied a Major League record in Tuesday’s game against the Red Sox by blasting five home runs in the second inning. Yordan Alvarez, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Michael Brantley, and Yuli Gurriel all hit home runs in this histroic second inning. All five homers were hit off of Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi. The historic effort helped give the Astros a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels in the AL West standings entering Wednesday.
