Javier, Matthews land on IL, ending regular season; Hendrickson, Spence join Astros

SEATTLE -- The Astros continued to feel effects of a painful Tuesday win on Wednesday, with Cristian Javier landing on the 15-day injured list with a Grade 2 right groin strain, Brice Matthews going on the 10-day IL with left knee inflammation and Jeremy Peña out of the lineup resting up a right forearm injury.

To fill Javier and Matthews’ spots, the club purchased the contract of left-handed reliever Josh Hendrickson and recalled Lucas Spence, who started Wednesday’s game in center field, batting eighth. Jake Meyers, who has not played since Sept. 6, was transferred to the 60-day IL.

“We keep moving forward,” manager Joe Espada said before Wednesday’s game against the Mariners. “You’ve seen us. We’re not going to stop. We’re going to continue to fight. That’s who we are. We’re going to keep moving forward.”

The IL stints for both Javier and Matthews are timed such that if the Astros get into the playoffs, they would have to miss the AL Wild Card Series. Matthews is eligible to return Oct. 3, the day the ALDS begins; Javier is eligible on Oct. 8.

Javier left his start Tuesday after two scoreless innings. Postgame, he said that he expected to make his next start, but Wednesday’s roster move nixed that plan, and Espada said that with the nature of the strain, Javier “obviously is going to take a little bit of time.”

The right-hander’s 2026 season hit a speed bump after three starts, as he went on the IL with a Grade 2 right shoulder strain. Since returning on July 4, he’s posted a 3.86 ERA in 14 appearances (nine starts). He’d had his best stuff in September, with a 1.96 ERA across 18 1/3 innings in four starts.

Matthews hurt himself sliding to catch a Josh Naylor fly ball to the right-center gap in the second inning. He stayed in four the next four frames, going 1-for-2 with a walk, before being replaced in center by Nelson Velázquez in the sixth.

It’s the second time Matthews’ left knee has sent him to the IL this season; he landed on the shelf with a sprain after banging into the wall at Globe Life Field during Houston’s July 12 game against the Rangers. Wednesday, Espada said imaging showed no structural damage for the 24-year-old, who has hit .201 in 84 games, but there’s a fair amount of swelling.

Peña, meanwhile, left Tuesday’s game after being hit by a 96.4 mph sinker. He stayed in the game after a lengthy discussion with the trainers and jogged home on Yordan Alvarez’s 41st home run of the season, but was replaced in the field the next inning.

Espada said that postgame X-rays on Peña’s forearm looked good, but he was still sore Wednesday morning, necessitating the day off. In his place, Nick Allen started at short, hitting ninth.

Rounding out the injury front, Daulton Varsho missed his third straight game with a wrist injury.

“He’s very slowly progressing,” Espada said. “There’s still some stiffness in that wrist; any time he does baseball activity, it stiffens up on him.”

When Hendrickson, a 29-year-old out of Perth, Australia, makes his MLB debut, it’ll be the high point of a long, international journey through baseball.

The right-hander played for three colleges in three years before being selected in the 38th round of the 2019 Draft by Philadelphia. After four years in the Phillies system, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023, then pitched in independent ball in 2025. He went back home to Australia to pitch for the Adelaide Giants in January, threw three innings for Team Australia in the World Baseball Classic and finally signed a Minor League deal with the Astros in April.

“It’s been a journey, alright,” Hendrickson said. “It’s been all over.”

He spent the entire season at Triple-A Sugar Land, going 9-7 with a 4.75 ERA in 23 games (19 starts), with 106 strikeouts and 27 walks in 113 2/3 innings.

Hendrickson started and threw 46 pitches in three innings Sunday in Sugar Land’s regular-season finale. He gives the Astros an option to throw multiple innings after the club was forced to use four relief pitchers Tuesday, including three -- Bennett Sousa, Miguel Ullola and Logan VanWey -- who pitched two innings apiece.

“It’s important for him to embrace this moment,” Espada said. “We’re going to use him. There’s a reason he’s up here. We believe he can get people out down the stretch.”