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The injury bug recently claimed another key player for the Houston Astros in right-handed hurler Luis Garcia.
A report on the team’s website said the 7-3 home victory over the San Francisco Giants on May 1 turned out to be the 26-year-old Garcia’s last game of the season as he’ll require Tommy John surgery.
Garcia threw eight pitches in the first inning before pain in his right elbow forced him to leave the bump.
Houston’s starting rotation, which was the most vaunted during last year’s World Series championship run, has struggled to stay healthy, with Lance McCullers, Jose Urquidy and now, Garcia unavailable.
“That’s a tremendous blow,” skipper Dusty Baker said, per the Astros. “I was praying it was something different, something minor.”
“He’s a strong kid,” Baker continued. “He’s in good spirits. Hopefully, France and the other young guys can give us a lift.”
According to Baseball Reference, the Bolivar, Venezuela native and 2021 American League Rookie of the Year (AL ROY) finalist crafted a 2-2 record to go with an earned run average (ERA) of 4.00 to begin the Astros’ title defense.
Garcia’s absence paved the way for Houston to call up J.P. France from Triple-A Sugar Land.
France made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in the Houston’s 7-5 road loss to the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, pitching five scoreless innings before Phil Maton came in for relief.
Yahoo Sports reported that the lone members of the rotation – which notably lost Justin Verlander during free agency to the New York Mets – to have taken the ball for the Astros are southpaw Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier and rookie Hunter Brown.
Per Yahoo Sports, the trio combined for a 2.84 ERA in 114 innings as of Friday.
The Astros are slogging through a three-city, nine-game trek, having dropped the opening series to Seattle and lost their first meeting of the year with the Los Angeles Angels on Monday to fall 4 1/2 games behind the division-leading Texas Rangers.