HOUSTON -- Astros closer Ken Giles was unavailable to pitch Saturday after being struck on the right wrist by a line drive during batting practice prior to a game against the Angels. He was diagnosed with a right wrist contusion after X-rays came up negative, the team said.
Giles was on the ground for several minutes along the right-field line before being carted off the field. Hinch said moments after Giles was struck he was already starting to bruise and was in pain. The injury comes one day after Giles blew a save against the Angels in a 10-6 loss to that damaged Houston's postseason hopes.
Giles, who's 13 of 18 in save chances this year, would probably have been unavailable Saturday anyway after throwing 30 pitches Friday, but Hinch was left to map out his bullpen without his closer.
"For us, getting to 27 outs, the roles are the least of my concern," he said. "The health and well-being of my guys is certainly important, and also piling up as many wins as we can. Usage of relievers this time of year, while it would be perfect to have it mapped out, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth -- everybody doing their job and having it go perfectly -- the reality is we've used our bullpen to the extent they're not always available every day, and then you have something like this happen and Giles gets hit with a line drive in batting practice, and it further complicates things."
Luke Gregerson, who was the Astros' closer all of last year and the start of this season, is the most likely candidate to close, depending on how the game materializes. He's 15 of 20 in save chances. Will Harris, who closed briefly this year, is also an option, along with 100-mph-throwing rookie Jandel Gustave.
"The bottom line with using relievers this time of year is whatever it takes to get you a win and yet preserve some options moving forward in the calendar to where you don't empty the bullpen every single inning of every single game and you feel that void at some point," Hinch said. "Things like this that come up we have to deal with and we will deal with.
"We'll piece it together the best we can."