Houston Astros: Carlos Correa could be days away from a return to lineup

Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa could be days away from returning to the lineup. How is his rehab going for the back injury he sustained? Let’s look.

Houston Astros fans — we’re getting to the final stretch of the season and as we transition to such a pivotal portion, this roster is getting close to full strength and we’ll be able to watch these guys make their strides to prepare for the postseason.

Last night’s 6-1 win over the Kansas City Royals was action-packed with Zack Greinke pitching one of his better games since joining the Houston Astros in a trade deadline day deal back July 31.

Greinke threw some great stuff yesterday — he was winning with his fastball, his breaker, whatever it took to ensure that he remained in control of the game and that certainly happened.

He finished the night giving up just one earned run while tossing seven strikeouts and allowing six hits through 6.0 innings pitched.

But the man of the night was Yordan Alvarez, whose only hit of the game was a three-run homer at the top of the 8th that sent Kyle Tucker and Robinson Chirinos to home plate. Gabe Speier was way too tentative with his pitching to Alvarez and I knew eventually that he was going to give him a cookie to take a bite out of. And the rest was history — Alvarez sent that baby flying to deep center field.

He’s been tremendously clutch from the plate this season, batting .324 with a 1.026 OPS with two outs on the board and with runners in scoring position.

Although that wasn’t exactly the situation last night — there were no outs on the board but RISP — we know that when he’s at the plate, there’s a good chance he’s going to bring those guys in. That was his 25th homer of the season by the way and he’s making it impossible to be overlooked for the AL Rookie of the Year honors.

Alex Bregman‘s homer early in the game along with Tucker and Chirinos’ singles helped the Houston Astros charge their way through to an impressive, 6-1 win.

But while the Houston Astros are busy being great, Carlos Correa is working hard to get back from the back injury he sustained last month. He’s been out since Aug. 20 and his return is likely imminent.

He had been rehabbing with Triple-A Round Rock since Friday while they competed in the PCL

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playoffs but they were eliminated that same night in a 7-5 loss to the Sacramento River Cats, which constituted a sweep in the championship series. Correa went 1-for-2 with two walks in seven innings of work.

Since the Express’ season is over, the Houston Astros have decided to just evaluate him Monday and if things go well, they’ll activate him from the injured list this Tuesday. Otherwise, he’ll continue to rehab with the team during their five-game homestand, the last of the season against the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels.

Via MLB.com’s Dave Brown, AJ Hinch said that everything with him is going great and Correa will be in Houston today to take batting practice before tomorrow’s eval.

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It sounds like to me that we’ll be seeing Correa this week, barring any unforeseen setbacks and you know with him, there could be. But things are sounding good so far.

It’ll be great to have him back — let’s go Houston Astros!

Correa was slashing .278/.358/.556 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs through 270 at-bats in 72 games before his injury this season.

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