Jose Altuve day to day with right side discomfort

Jose Altuve wasn’t in the lineup for Thursday’s series finale against Oakland after being removed from Wednesday’s 5-4 loss to the A’s with right side discomfort. While leading off the fifth inning, Altuve felt some discomfort in his right side after fouling a pitch off and wound up bunting with two strikes on the next pitch to finish the at-bat. He was then removed from the game.

“I’m not really worried,” Altuve said Wednesday. “Maybe I just wake up tomorrow and I’m good to go. I don’t really want to make any decisions tonight because normally with an injury you wait until the next day and see how you feel.”

Astros manager Joe Espada sounded more optimistic Thursday.

“He’s doing better,” he said. “I thought he was going to come in and be more sore, especially after the way it looked yesterday. He’s day to day. He’s in the weight room throwing the med ball around trying to get the area loose. Hopefully, it’s something that he won’t miss a lot of time.”

Altuve, 34, has hit .302 with 19 homers, 62 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 141 games for Houston this season. He was an All-Star for the ninth time.