Astros concerned after Yordan Alvarez (hand) has setback

Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez experienced a setback with his fractured right hand and will see a specialist, general manager Dana Brown told reporters prior to Tuesday's road game against the Colorado Rockies.

Brown said Alvarez will see the specialist on Wednesday.

Alvarez has missed two months due to the injury. He took batting practice in Houston on Saturday and reported to West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday for the next step in his rehab, but that plan has changed after taking dry swings with a bat on Monday and reporting soreness in the hand on Tuesday.

"It's a tough pill to swallow, but at the end of the day his health is the most important thing here," Brown said. "And so, we'll let him take the time that he needs to get completely healed. At this point, the team is playing very well. We're 16 games over .500, we're six (games) up in the division, and so we'll take our time and let him continue to heal.

"Hopefully it won't be much longer and we'll get some good news in the next 48 hours."

The setback comes at a time when the Astros assumed their main power source was making swift progress and close to rejoining the squad.

"We felt like he was close because he had felt so good of late," Brown said. "And so this is certainly news that we didn't want."

Alvarez, 28, last played on May 2. He is batting just .210 with three homers and 18 RBIs in 29 games this season.

The three-time All-Star topped 30 homers in each of the previous four campaigns and owns a career slugging percentage of .573.

Houston manager Joe Espada wouldn't let Tuesday's news dim his enthusiasm.

"He is doing everything in his power to get back," Espada said. "He's staying optimistic and I'm staying optimistic with him. So we've just got to give it time and hopefully his hand heals and we get him back in our lineup."

The Astros also recalled utility player Shay Whitcomb from Triple-A Sugar Land, one day after placing shortstop Jeremy Pena (fractured rib) on the 10-day injured list.

Whitcomb, 26, is hitless in nine at-bats in seven games with the Astros this season. He is batting .280 with 19 homers and 43 RBIs in 60 Triple-A games.

--Field Level Media