Astros All-Star Reliever Ryan Pressly Questionable for Remainder of Cardinals Series

Houston Astros v St Louis Cardinals
Houston Astros v St Louis Cardinals / Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

Houston would love to avoid having to burn all 10 days of an IL stint here, but the fact of the matter is that they're likely going to have to combat the red-hot Redbirds without one of their most important back-end guys.

2019 Astros All-Star Ryan Pressly is battling a knee issue that may render his devastating stuff moot for the rest of the weekend against St. Louis.

The terminology here ("don't want to rush him," particularly) doesn't inspire confidence, and makes it sound as if an IL stint, retroactive to his last appearance on Friday, one that resulted in an uncharacteristic trio of earned runs under some notable duress.

This doesn't exactly come as a surprise based on manager AJ Hinch's lack of optimism in the immediate aftermath of that loss.

Allowing a game-changing home run to Paul Goldschmidt isn't exactly anything to be ashamed of these days; after all, he homers kind of a lot. But Pressly's discomfort remains worrisome, and I'd be willing to bet Hinch will give him the requisite time to sort it out.