Houston Astros: Team encouraged that Gerrit Cole won’t go on injured list

Houston Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole tweaked his hamstring this past Tuesday and did not start. The team feels he won’t have to go to the injured list. Why?

The Houston Astros put together a heck of marathon of a baseball game last night.  I stayed up to watch every minute of the game’s final innings in what felt like the longest baseball game this team has taken part of this past season.

As things began to go into double-digit innings, I had begun to wonder if this game would ever end.  Although I knew the likely would be inevitable, the whole notion tinkered with my imagination.

I thought the Houston Astros had their chance to seize the moment at the top of the 13th inning when Carlos Correa reached on an error by Matt Chapman getting himself to second base.  After Yuli Gurriel was intentionally walked by Lou Trivino, it was up to Robinson Chirinos to smack this team into what would be categorized as a hard-fought road win.

That wasn’t the case as he grounded into a force out, dashing any future chances the Houston Astros would have to win the game for the remainder of the night.

The Houston Astros were short on arms and by then they had gotten to Cy Sneed.  But after he allowed a Corban Joseph single and Chris Herrmann sacrificed to get Joseph to second, Sneed was in trouble.

He beautifully struck out Marcus Semien but allowed the game-winning single by former Astros outfielder Robbie Grossman, giving the Oakland A’s a walk-off win.

It’s just one game and believe me, the Houston Astros have bigger fish to fry but they’ve lost four in a row which is notable but not of huge concern.

But speaking of concerns, how is Gerrit Cole doing?

Cole was scratched in this past Tuesday’s start against the Chicago White Sox because of him

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tweaking his hamstring during warmups.

So where are we at now?  MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reported that Cole played catch before the start of Friday’s tilt, which is the first step in the road to making a return from such an injury.  AJ Hinch hopes to have him back to start against the Detroit Tigers sometime during the series Monday through Thursday at Minute Maid Park.

Hinch also adds that he’ll have to do some extensive bullpen work plus an aggressive training regimen in order to test if the hamstring can handle in-game action.

But if all goes to plan, it seems the Houston Astros are optimistic that Cole will not have to miss another start and he’ll be back in the fray.

I’m hoping for the best.

Cole has posted a 14-5 record, a 2.87 ERA while tossing a major league-high 226 strikeouts to 50 earned runs through 156.2 innings pitched in 25 starts this season.