Altuve, Castro return to Astros' lineup

OAKLAND -- All-Star catcher Jason Castro and second baseman Jose Altuve both returned to the lineup Tuesday for the series opener against the A's. Castro missed the two previous games with a bruised hip suffered in a plate collision on Saturday, and Altuve has been dealing with a sore left quadriceps.

Castro, who entered Tuesday's game on a 10-game hitting streak, said the extra day of rest helped him immensely.

"I'm feeling a lot better," Castro said. "The couple of off-days did the trick. The first day after was pretty sore to really do anything, so that's why I took the back-to-back days off. It felt better [Monday], but today it feels even better. I should be back to normal now."

Meanwhile, Altuve said his quad is close to 100 percent, but manager Bo Porter said he's talked with the base coaches to make sure Altuve takes it easy on the basepaths. He missed two games last week with the same issue.

"We're at the point where he's not going to be 100 percent," Porter said. "I've discussed with him and the bases coaches have talked to him that they are going to have to be some precautions taken, because he doesn't have the normal burst and normal speed when he's 100 percent healthy."