SAN FRANCISCO -- Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, still hobbled from getting hit on the left foot by a pitch in the first inning of Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Giants, was out of the lineup for Wednesday’s series finale and unavailable to play.
Altuve was walking gingerly around the clubhouse Wednesday morning and was scheduled to be examined by team doctors when the Astros get back to Houston on Thursday. Initial imaging performed on Tuesday showed no fracture in the foot, but manager Joe Espada said Altuve was still sore.
“He feels a lot better than yesterday, but he’s still pretty sore,” Esapda said.
Nick Allen started at second base Wednesday in Altuve’s place.
Altuve was struck on the side of his left foot by a slider thrown by Giants starter Carson Whisenhunt in the first inning Tuesday and initially stayed in the game. Allen was on deck to hit for Altuve as the top of the second ended and wound up taking over at second base in the bottom of the inning.
“I wanted to go and play defense to see if it gets better, but it was getting worse,” Altuve said Tuesday night. “I didn’t want to do anything stupid so we decided to come out of the game.”
Altuve, 36, is hitting .240/.304/.391 with 13 home runs and 35 RBIs. Earlier this month, Altuve recorded his 2,471st career hit, surpassing Bobby Abreu for the fourth-most by a Venezuelan-born player in Major League history. A day later, he had his 247th career homer as a second baseman, surpassing Joe Gordon and Ian Kinsler for eighth-most as a second baseman.