{"id":674923,"date":"2026-04-13T19:12:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:12:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/674923\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:12:41","slug":"houston-astros-receive-further-injury-news-amid-poor-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/674923\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Astros Receive Further Injury News Amid Poor Start"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Tatsuya\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Houston Astros<\/a> have placed Tatsuya Imai<\/a> and Jeremy Pe\u00f1a<\/a> on the injured list. Imai goes to the 15-day IL with right arm fatigue while Pe\u00f1a was placed on the 10-day IL with a grade one hamstring strain.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Pe\u00f1a is going on the IL with a Grade 1 hamstring strain<\/p>\n

Tatsuya Imai is going on the IL with right arm fatigue.<\/p>\n

In corresponding moves<\/a>, the Astros have recalled pitchers Colton Gordon<\/a> and J.P. France<\/a> plus infielder Shay Whitcomb<\/a> from AAA. Pitcher Jayden Murray<\/a> was also demoted to AAA as a result.<\/p>\n

Imai and Pe\u00f1a were injured during the latest series against the Seattle Mariners<\/a>. While both injuries are not regarded as serious injuries long term for the Astros, they are concerning as the team has had a myriad of injury issues to begin the season amid their poor start to the 2026 season. Hunter Brown<\/a> and Cristian Javier<\/a> were placed on the injured list last week.<\/p>\n

In particular, the pitching for the Houston Astros has been a major weakness for the ball club. Houston ranks last in the majors in team ERA<\/a> to begin the 2026 season on the way to a 6-10 record.<\/p>\n

Tatsuya Imai has Concerning Start to MLB Career\"Tatsuya<\/p>\n

GettyTatsuya Imai has a 7.27 ERA in three starts for Houston.<\/p>\n

The Houston Astros signed Imai to a three year $54 million contract<\/a> this last offseason. It has a player opt out clause after this season if he wishes to enter free agency or opt in for the next two seasons with Houston.<\/p>\n

To begin 2026, Imai<\/a> has really struggled, pitching for a 7.27 ERA in three starts. His latest start against the Mariners was especially poor as he only pitched for a third of an inning and allowed three runs and four walks. Control has been a major concern for Imai to begin the season, allowing 11.42 walks per nine. However, Imai has also forced a lot of swings and misses, as he ranks<\/a> in the 87th percentile in whiff percentage.<\/p>\n

Imai<\/a> was an incredibly consistent pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball, the Japanese top league. He has a 3.15 ERA in eight career seasons of NPB play. The trip to the injured list hopes to help regain his previous form.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Pe\u00f1a\u2019s Early Season Injuries Woes Continue\"Jeremy<\/p>\n

GettyAfter a career year, Jeremy Pe\u00f1a struggles to stay consistent in 2026.<\/p>\n

Pe\u00f1a has had a slow start to 2026 after having a career season in 2025. So far this year, Pe\u00f1a has batted for .256\/.305\/.349 with no home runs. Last year, he was incredible, batting for .304\/.363\/.477 with 17 home runs.<\/p>\n

To give Pe\u00f1a the benefit of the doubt, he has been playing through an injury already. In the WBC, he fractured his the ring finger on his right hand in an exhibition game for the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n

The Astros removed Pe\u00f1a midway through Saturday\u2019s game against the Mariners after he told the coaches he had right knee tightness. Nick Allen<\/a> took his spot in the lineup as a result.<\/p>\n

The offense of the Astros has been on fire despite the lack of production from Pe\u00f1a. Fangraphs ranks them as the number one offense<\/a> so far in 2026 in terms of overall production ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tChris Lewis<\/a> is a freelance sports writer based in Gig Harbor, Washington. He focuses on NFL, MLB (with an emphasis on the Mariners), and professional golf. More about Chris Lewis<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Astros\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Houston Astros have placed Tatsuya Imai and Jeremy Pe\u00f1a on the injured list. Imai goes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,3211,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-674923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-houstonastros","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116398991585375276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}