Yordan Álvarez terrifies Astros fans with early injury exit vs Angels

Even though the Mariners are still in pursuit for a Wild Card spot, the Astros are hanging on nicely to the top of the AL West, five games ahead of their rivals in Seattle. They have yet to clinch a division or playoff berth and still have to see the Mariners for one more series starting on Monday, but their preceding series against the fifth-place Angels was the perfect time to maintain that distance from the Mariners and feel good about themselves going into that series.

The Astros took their first three games from the Angels, even though Anaheim did put up a good fight in the second. They headed into the finale looking for a sweep, and Yordan Álvarez's no-out double in the third put the odds squarely in Houston's favor.

However, there was a wrinkle when when Álvarez slid into second. He got to his feet and immediately started grabbing his right knee, and was quickly attended to by Joe Espada and an Astros trainer. He attempted to take a few steps, but quickly put his hands on his knees again before being slowly escorted off the field.

Yordan Álvarez exits Astros-Angels finale with apparent knee injury after sliding into second

Mauricio Dubón replaced Álvarez at second and Jose Altuve, who was at third when the injury occured, eventually scored the Astros' first run of the afternoon on an Alex Bregman sac fly.

The Astros can't afford to lose their three-time All-Star and batting leader in almost every category right now, not with a potentially scale-tipping series against the Mariners upcoming and Seattle hot over their last 14 games.

Although an update isn't likely to come until the game is over, we're keeping our fingers crossed for some good news. Even if he has to miss a couple of games, including some against the Mariners, just needing to stay on the bench for a few days would be much, much better than an IL stint that could keep him out of the postseason altogether.