Astros manager Dusty Baker did not want to make a big deal out of Kyle Tucker being supplanted by Aledmys Díaz in right field on Wednesday night, emphasizing how fleeting Díaz's opportunity could be.

“This is temporary,” Baker said. “This is today. It might not even be the whole game.”

Even if it's just for a moment, what makes the move notable is that Díaz has never played an inning in right field in his MLB career (3,278 innings on the infield, 64 innings in left field). On the other side of the equation, Tucker has started all but two games in right this season.

The Astros have high hopes for Tucker, a 24-year-old who was drafted fifth overall in 2015. He’s off to a very slow start this year, with a .183/.241/.356 slash line in 29 games, but Baker is not using Wednesday’s decision as some sign of things to come.

“Kyle was hitting the ball great, and then the last few games, he’s been struggling, fouling off a lot of pitches,” Baker said. “I think today’s a day to work. To get some [side] work in. Also, Kyle will probably be in the game later.”

Díaz didn't see much action in right but was productive at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI double in Houston's 6-3 loss. He was replaced by Tucker in the seventh inning.

Despite his inexperience in right, Díaz has been working out there “almost daily,” said Baker, who believes right field will be easier for Díaz to play at Yankee Stadium than at other parks because of its short porch (314 feet in the corner), which means less ground to cover.

Maldy 'doing good’ after collision

After a scary collision with Yankees infielder Rougned Odor on Tuesday, catcher Martín Maldonado is “doing good,” according to Baker. Maldonado still feels soreness in his lat and trap, but he avoided more serious injury.

• Maldonado avoids serious injury on collision

During the play, Yuli Gurriel threw home to Maldonado just as Odor was trying to score. Because of a bat in the batter’s box, Odor stayed upright as he ran through home plate, contacting Maldonado up high in the process. Maldonado was removed from the game; Odor needed assistance leaving the field, because he couldn’t put weight on his left leg.

“With a collision like that, I guess this is the best way he could have gotten hit,” pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. said of the collision. “I don’t know if that’s even the right way to say it, but it was fortunate. The bat was kind of in the way, so I don’t think Odor had the opportunity to slide. I don’t think there was really any bad intention there. It was just one of those plays.” 

Baker said that Maldonado could be available on Wednesday night in an emergency but that he’d prefer not to use him given the quick turnaround before Thursday’s first pitch (12:05 p.m. CT). 

Odds and ends

• Jake Odorizzi (10-day injured list, strained right forearm) threw a bullpen session on Wednesday. Baker doesn’t have a firm timeline for when Odorizzi will return to the rotation, but he did say, “He has to at least do a couple rehab assignments first.” 

Odorizzi, who signed for two years (plus a 2023 player option) in March, has allowed nine runs in eight innings this season. 

• Enoli Paredes (10-day IL, sore right side) begins his rehab assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi on Wednesday night as the Hooks host the San Antonio Missions. It's important to Baker that Paredes, who has six walks in 1 1/3 innings this year, does not return to the Astros prematurely. 

“We just want to see Enoli be himself,” Baker said, “because you hate to see him come up here and not be ready and struggle. As much as we need him, you want him to be ready when he gets here and not just be here in body.” 

• Infielder Abraham Toro is on the Minor League IL with a strained right oblique. Toro, who is just 1-for-12 this year, was optioned by the Astros to Triple-A Sugar Land on April 26.