The Houston Astros couldn’t finish the sweep, and they lost something more significant than a series finale.
Jose Altuve, who left Saturday’s game after injuring himself on a swing in the eighth inning, was confirmed Sunday to have a Grade 2 left oblique strain and will go on the injured list. The Astros fell 8-0 to the Texas Rangers at Daikin Park, their third shutout loss of the season, and will head to Minnesota without their franchise second baseman.
Houston is 19-29.
Nathan Eovaldi handled the depleted Astros lineup with ease, scattering five hits and striking out eight over seven innings. His splitter was the difference—he threw 44 of them on 94 pitches, generating 13 whiffs and an 83.2 mph average exit velocity on balls put in play. The Astros had runners on base in each of Eovaldi’s first five innings and scored none of them.
The game’s most memorable moment belonged to Brandon Nimmo. With the score still 0-0 in the fourth, Yordan Alvarez sent a Eovaldi curveball deep to right field. The Daikin Park home run lights briefly flashed. Nimmo retreated to the wall, leapt, and came down with the ball. No home run.
Peter Lambert matched zeroes with Eovaldi for four innings but ran out of runway in the fifth. Jake Burger took a 2-1 fastball the other way over the right-field wall to put Texas up 2-0—just the second home run Lambert has allowed in 35⅓ innings with Houston. Lambert returned for the seventh, walked Joc Pederson to lead off, and was pulled after hitting Alejandro Osuna to load the bases. Cody Bolton inherited three runners and allowed all of them to score, Burger delivering a two-run double and Kyle Higashioka a two-run single as part of a five-run inning that turned the game into a formality.
Lambert has a 3.57 ERA in six starts. The Astros have scored eight total runs in his six outings and won two of them.
Altuve’s Grade 2 strain is a partial tear of the oblique muscle. He dealt with a left oblique strain in July 2023 and missed 17 games. Brice Matthews, Nick Allen, and Braden Shewmake are candidates to fill in at second base during his absence. The Astros entered Sunday with 14 players already on the injured list.
Some relief is coming. Manager Joe Espada said there is a strong possibility that Jeremy Peña and Jake Meyers will both be activated during the upcoming series in Minnesota, and reliever Nate Pearson also appears on track to join the club there. The Astros open a three-game series against the Twins on Monday, with Tatsuya Imai scheduled to start the opener.
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