Astros: Jake Odorizzi offers update on injury

After being placed on 15-day IL, Jake Odorizzi gives an update on his injury status.

Jake Odorizzi gave Houston Astros fans a bit of a scare Monday in Boston after suffering a lower leg injury that required being carted off the field. Odorizzi tumbled to the ground while attempting to cover first base in the fifth inning of the Astros’ 6-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

He appeared to hurt his leg during on a pitch to Kike Hernandez. When he turned to go cover first base, he fell to the ground and remained there until he was carted off the field. Manager Dusty Baker indicated that Odorizzi underwent an MRI on his leg earlier on Tuesday, but a clearer update on the exact injury wouldn’t be known until the results were finalized.

Baker also made comments on Sports Talk 790 in Houston on Tuesday feeling the Astros were getting was the injury didn’t seem as severe as they originally thought and hoped to get Odorizzi back sooner than later.

The Astros did go ahead and place Odorizzi on the the 15-day injury list with the reason described as “lower left leg discomfort.”

Ultimately, Dusty’s optimism proved to be correct. On Wednesday afternoon, Jake Odorizzi said the MRI on his right leg revealed some strains and sprains to the ligaments of his foot and ankle, but the Astros haven’t established a timeline for his return to action, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

After a couple of abysmal starts, Odorizzi reportedly conferred with teammates, Justin Verlander and Alex Bregman on mindset and strategy. Since then, he has been pitching some of the best ball we have seen since he joined the team as a free agent last season. Over his last four starts, he is 3-0 with 0.79 ERA with five walks, 16 strikeouts and just two earned-runs over 22.2 innings pitched.

The Astros did recall reliever Seth Martinez from Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys to take Odorizzi’s spot on the active roster.  The Astros likely won’t make any additional moves to replace Odorizzi for now. Once a six-man rotation in order to give Justin Verlander an additional day of rest., they will presumably run Verlander, Framber Valdez, Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy and Cristian Javier as a five-man rotation.