Astros place left-hander Brandon Walter on injured list with elbow inflammation

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros placed left-handed starter Brandon Walter on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday, with left elbow inflammation.

Walter becomes the 18th Houston player currently on IL.

In a corresponding move, right-handed reliever Nick Hernandez was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land.

An MRI from Thursday revealed inflammation, and Walter said he was feeling stiffness in his elbow, which he attributed to his workload this season after not pitching in 2024. He doesn’t believe the injury will keep him out for long.

“I’m at around 100 innings this season,” Walter said. “I think the workload just crept up on me. It was kinda a gradual thing. It was just being stiff every day, and after this last start it just became too much.”

Walter is 1-3 with a 3.35 ERA in nine starts for the Astros this season with 52 strikeouts and four walks. He allowed two or fewer runs in seven starts and limited the Diamondbacks to one run over a career-high seven innings on Wednesday.

Walter is Houston’s eighth starting pitcher on the injured list. Right-handers Hayden Wesneski and Ronel Blanco are out for the season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery. Right-handers Cristian Javier, Spencer Arrighetti, Luis Garcia, and J.P. France have recently started rehab assignments.

Right-hander Lance McCullers Jr. was placed in the injured list Saturday due to a blister on a finger of his right hand.

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