HOUSTON -- Joey Gallo is running out of time to play again this season. He was flown back to Dallas on Wednesday for what the club called “a re-evaluation” of his recovery from surgery to remove the hamate bone from his right wrist. The Rangers said an update will be released Friday.

Gallo’s recovery from surgery has gone smoothly, but perhaps not quickly enough to get him back this season.

“I know it doesn’t feel good,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said Wednesday. “He did some stuff in Arizona and didn’t feel that great. The first day was OK. The second day didn’t feel great at all. It’s not 100 percent. I don’t know what percent. If I were to guess, not great. Grip strength is not there.

“I want him to play, and I know he wants to play. But it’s one of those things: Does it make sense to get him back for a couple of games? If he can’t go every day, what’s it worth, really?”

Gallo had been expected to join the Rangers this weekend in Oakland and could still do that. But he’s not going to play.

At that point, the Rangers will be down to their final six games, a homestand against the Red Sox and Yankees, as the club ends its 25-year run at Globe Life Park.

“If he can’t play early in that Boston series, he might shut it down,” Woodward said. “If he can only play in three or four games, I’ll just have a heart to heart with him.

“From a playing standpoint, maybe he just wants to get back out there one more time or a couple more times. Maybe it doesn’t make sense. We’ll get a better answer maybe in the next couple of days.”

Gallo hasn’t played since July 23, and if that’s where his 2019 season ended, it still would have been a transformational one. At the All-Star break, Gallo had a 1.060 OPS, second to only Mike Trout in the American League, and had homered 20 times in 61 games. He made his first All-Star team and homered in the game.

He missed time in the first half with a pulled oblique muscle, and then came the hamate bone issue, which was removed. He has 22 home runs and a .986 OPS. He began the season with a career .815 OPS.

“Tremendous upside,” Woodward said. “From where he was before the season to his mindset and what he considers his foundation now, he’s in a good place for future success, sustained success.

“I think he can build off that. He can be huge for us for a long time. That’s pretty inspiring to hear him talk about it. Obviously, we’ve just got to keep him healthy.

“If he’s going to miss time, I’d rather him miss this year when we’re not in a playoff chase. I don’t want him to play 70 games next year when we have a better chance of making the postseason.”

The Rangers will discuss if moving him out of center field will help him maintain health. While the hamate bone is a freak injury, Woodward said the team will consider all options, including giving Gallo more designated-hitter duties or more days off.

“Those are things I’ve got to be mindful of,” Woodward said, “and I’ve talked to him about. He’s frustrated by it. He wants to be out there. He wants to play. He kind of made a promise, `Woody, this isn’t going to happen again.’ Some of these things you can’t control. An oblique injury. A hamate bone. Prove it to me next year. Play 160, and we’ll be done with it. Plus, since he had such a good year, made a lot of progress, it sucks.”

Rangers beat

• Right-hander Lance Lynn has thrown at least 100 pitches in 29 of 31 starts, most in MLB. The Rangers' single-season record is 30 by Nolan Ryan in 1989. Lynn has done it 22 starts in a row, MLB's second-longest streak since the start of the 2015 season (Trevor Bauer did it 25 starts in a row in 2018).

• Outfielder Willie Calhoun had a single and two walks against Justin Verlander on Tuesday to account for three of the six times the Rangers reached base against the Astros ace. Calhoun is 5-for-8 with a homer, two walks and one strikeout in 10 career plate appearances against Verlander. Those five hits are his most against any opposing pitcher.