The Seattle Mariners are set to begin a three-game series against the New York Yankees at 6:40 p.m. PT on Sunday at T-Mobile Park.
The Mariners had 12 games left in the season and were 4.0 games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and 2.0 games out of the final AL Wild Card spot entering Tuesday.
Seattle will have another series against Houston coming up Sept. 23-Sept. 25. And the Astros will be without a key part of their outfield depth during that series and the rest of the regular season.
Per a report on “X” from the Athletic’s Chandler Rome, Houston outfielder Ben Gamel sustained a left fibula fracture that was originally misdiagnosed as a left knee contusion.
Gamel was placed on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday retroactive to Sunday (Sept. 15).
It’s not the first time this season a Houston player has been misdiagnosed with an injury of this severity.
Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker was out from June 7-Sept. 6 with a shin fracture that was orignally diagnosed as a right shin contusion. Tucker was originally placed on the 10-day injured list with the misdiagnoses on June 6 before being transferred to the 60-day injured list.
But Gamel’s latest injury could have some implications on the playoff race down the road.
Gamel’s stats don’t jump off the sheet this season (.247 average, one home run, four RBIs in 38 total games this season). He’s only played 20 games with Houston since being claimed off waivers from the New York Mets on Aug. 20.
The Astros have dealt with nagging or sustained injuries to their outfield the whole season. Tucker, Yordan Alvarez have both been dinged up. And although Jason Heyward is on a four-game hit streak entering Tuesday, he had a six-game hitless streak before that.
Losing a critical piece of depth like Gamel could end up hurting Houston during the last two weeks of the season.
