Houston Astros All-Star Yordan Álvarez injured his ankle crossing home plate Monday night and was pulled from the game.
The injury took place in the bottom of the first inning of Houston’s game against the Texas Rangers. Álvarez scored standing up after a Carlos Correa single and a throwing error allowed him to reach home plate from first base.
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He appeared to slip on home plate as he touched it and hobbled toward the Astros dugout, unable to slow his momentum. He was in immediate and obvious pain and needed help limping down the stairs into the dugout.
The Astros later announced that he’d sustained a sprained left ankle and exited the game. The severity of the sprain was not initially clear.
Álvarez is 18 games removed from his return from a nearly four-month layoff with a hand fracture. He’d previously been sidelined since May 3 due to the injury that was initially diagnosed as a muscle strain. The Astros expected Álvarez to miss a few weeks until imaging on May 31 revealed that he’d actually sustained a bone fracture.
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Álvarez returned to Houston’s lineup on Aug. 26 with the Astros engaged in a heated race for the AL West crown. Houston had a 1.5-game lead over the Seattle Mariners for first place at the time of his return. They entered Monday’s game trailing Seattle by one game and leading the Rangers by two.
An injury of any significance to Álvarez would mark a blow to the Astros at a critical juncture of the season with 12 games remaining before the playoffs.
Alvarez was an All-Star in each season from 2022 to ’24. He led the Astros in 2024 with a .308 batting average, 35 home runs and 86 RBI. He has received MVP votes in each of the past three seasons and won a Silver Slugger in 2022 while finishing third in AL MVP voting.
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Álvarez has also come up clutch in the postseason throughout his career. In 60 career playoff games, he has slashed .294/.393/.591 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI. He was named ALCS MVP in 2021 as the Astros defeated the Boston Red Sox to advance to the World Series.
This story will be updated.
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