Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez is feeling better after spraining his right knee this weekend, but he is unsure when he will be able to return.
“I wish I knew what was going to happen in the next few days or had a vision for what was going to happen in the next few days,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “But we need to wait for the inflammation to go down and then we can go from there.”
Alvarez got hurt while sliding into second base on a double in the third inning on Sunday. On Monday, manager Joe Espada announced that Alvarez would not play for the rest of the series against the Seattle Mariners, which lasts until Wednesday.
The Astros are leading the AL West and need a win over the Mariners to secure the division title for the fourth year in a row.
Alvarez, who plays left field and often serves as the team’s designated hitter, mentioned that he felt much less sore on Tuesday compared to the day after his injury.
“Today I can walk better,” he said. “Yesterday I wasn’t able to put much weight on the knee. Today I can put a lot more weight on that leg, so I definitely feel better.”
However, he is still having trouble moving around because of the swelling in his knee.
“I really can’t do much right now,” he said. “Inflammation obviously is still there and I can’t even turn my knee right now.”
Espada was asked if there was a chance that Alvarez could be available to come off the bench if he isn’t ready to play a full game this weekend when the Astros finish the regular season with a series in Cleveland.
