Astros Reliever Phil Maton Explains How He Fractured His Right Hand

The veteran pitcher will miss the rest of the season with the injury.

Astros reliever Phil Maton revealed that he fractured his right hand punching his locker after Houston’s final regular season game on Wednesday. He had surgery on Monday and will miss the rest of the season.

“Following the game on Wednesday I punched my locker and fractured my fifth metacarpal,” he said. “Had surgery yesterday, everything went well…[I’m] eyeing next year right now.”

Maton explained that he wasn’t happy with his final performance of the season. In that last game against the Phillies, Maton allowed two runs on two hits while just recording one out. It was also in that outing that he gave up a hit to his brother, Nick.

“It was kind of a shortsighted move, and ultimately it was selfish and it’s one of those things that I hope doesn't affect our team moving forward,” he said.

Here are the details from Astros pitcher Phil Maton breaking his hand after punching his locker Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/yU3ysLFRCN

— Brian McTaggart (@brianmctaggart) October 11, 2022

Maton explained that he was proud of his September performance after entering the month with an ERA over 4.00, and he felt as if that last game undid some of the progress.

“My thought process when I had a four ERA was to have a good last month and try to put my body in a good position to be ready for the postseason,” he said. “I think that’s the most frustrating part about that is I was throwing the ball well.”

The veteran reliever finishes the season with a 3.84 ERA in 65.2 innings for Houston.

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