The Orioles and Yankees are locked in pitched battle for the AL East. And this is the lineup the Red Sox are rolling out against the Yankees tonight:
Pedro Ciriaco, 2B
Daniel Nava LF
Cody Ross RF
Mauro Gomez 1B
Ryan Lavarnway DH
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Danny Valencia 3B
Che-Hsuan Lin CF
Jose Iglesias SS
Come to think of it, Clay Buchholz isn’t gonna be too pleased with it either.
Astros’ star second baseman José Altuve underwent surgery on his right knee, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports. Neither the specifics of the surgery nor a concrete timetable for the infielder’s recovery have been officially confirmed by the club yet.
Altuve, 28, suffered the injury in July after he jammed his knee on a close play at third base. Even after he completed an initial 3.5-week stint on the 10-day disabled list, chronic knee pain continued to dog him in the months that followed. As manager A.J. Hinch told reporters on Thursday, he would have held the second baseman out of the lineup under any other circumstances, but instead chose to commend Altuve for showing up and pushing through the pain as the Astros tried for a repeat championship title this postseason.
Per McTaggart, the Astros expect Altuve to make a full recovery by spring. The perennial All-Star infielder finished his 2018 run with a .316/.386/.451 batting line, 13 home runs, and an .837 OPS through 599 plate appearances. He fared slightly worse during Houston’s ALDS and ALCS campaigns, slashing .265/.324/.412 with three extra-base hits over 37 PA. The Astros were eliminated by the Red Sox during Thursday’s 4-1 loss in ALCS Game 5.
