Bud Norris left Tuesday's start against the Royals following six scoreless innings after aggravating his back injury.
Norris was originally supposed to start Sunday after leaving his previous outing with back spasms but was pushed back just in case. Obviously, it appears that he's not over the ailment. The righty gave up just five hits and two walks over six frames before exiting Tuesday. The Astros should provide an update on his status after the game.
Bud Norris held the Royals scoreless through six innings but took a no-decision as the Astros lost on Tuesday.
Norris left with a 3-0 lead, but the bullpen proceeded to allow seven runs in the next three innings to rob him of a win. He has a 3.86 ERA this year, but he's struck out just 35 batters through 56 innings and is likely due for some regression. His next start will come Monday against the Rockies.
Jose Altuve has dropped Scott Boras as his agent and has rejoined Scott Pucino and Wil Polidor of Octagon.
Altuve left Octagon about a year ago to align himself with Boras, but he has had a change of heart. The 23-year-old second baseman won't be arbitration-eligible for the first time until after the 2014 season and is under team control through 2017, so the Astros have plenty of time to discuss a potential extension. However, the switch from Boras to Octagon likely increases the chance of getting a deal done.
Wesley Wright holds a 2.95 ERA over 21 appearances.
Wright broke out in 2012, putting up a 3.27 ERA while striking out over a batter per inning. Over his first three seasons, batters teed off to the tune of a 5.33 ERA and 1.55 WHIP over 134 games. In the last three years, Wright has turned into a fine LOOGY, posting a 2.94 ERA and 8.4/2.9 K/BB/9 rate. Owners in deep AL-only formats should note that Wright's WHIP this year (1.53) sits right around where it did during the dark years of his career. He's walking fewer batters then he ever has, but has surrendered 23 hits over 18 1/3 frames.
Matt Dominguez went 2-for-4 and hit a three-run homer off Jeremy Guthrie as the Astros topped the Royals 6-5 on Monday.
Dominguez has four homers in 10 days after going his first 33 games without one. Unfortunately, that is all he's done in the 10 days; he has just two other hits and no walks besides the homers, and his average has dipped to .239. Still, it's a whole lot better than no homers.
Jose Veras struck out two in a perfect ninth Monday to earn his seventh save.
Veras was awful this spring and in the first two weeks of the season, but he has seven saves in eight opportunities since April 19. That's more saves than full-time closers Chris Perez, Bobby Parnell and Steve Cishek have this season.
Justin Maxwell (hand) hit 15 balls off a tee and took 30 soft-tosses on Monday.
Maxwell is no longer wearing a brace on his fractured left hand and is progressing steadily. He's scheduled to have a routine X-ray on Tuesday to see how the healing is coming along. The outfielder should make a late May/early June return if all goes well.