Houston Astros Catch Major Break After Star's Injury Update

After it looked like another one of their stars would be out an extended period of time, the Houston Astros caught a major break after they got an injury update.

Jun 28, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve (27) celebrates after hitting a leadoff home run in the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

It has not been the season the Houston Astros expected to have, but they turned things around and are once again knocking on the door of the playoffs as they chase down first place in their division.

Based on the amount of talent littered throughout this roster, that shouldn't be too big of a surprise, but the fact that it took this long for them to figure things out made many people wonder if they were ever going to start playing at this level.

Many of their struggles were because of the massive number of injuries they had racked up.

With Kyle Tucker and Justin Verlander still on the injured list, the Astros have put together an incredible stretch of play, but having another one of their star players hit the IL could have stopped this momentum in its tracks.

That was the fear when Jose Altuve left Friday's game early after taking a pitch to the hand.

As seen with Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, anytime a player gets hit in that area, they can miss an extended period of time.

Thankfully, Houston finally got some good news on the injury front as it looks like Altuve is going to be just day-to-day after his X-rays came back negative and revealed only a contusion, nothing that was broken or severely damaged.

"I got a little worried and painful, so I came out of the game ... I'll see how it feels tomorrow, but I think I'll be fine ... Thank God everything is going good right now and hopefully tomorrow, I'll be back," the legendary second baseman said according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com.

The "tomorrow" he's referencing is Saturday's game.

Whether the Astros are going to throw him back out there so soon is not known at the time of writing, but it seems like they would at least give him a day off to see how it reacts.

Regardless if Altuve is in the lineup or not on Saturday, the fact that he's trying to play so soon is a great sign for Houston.