HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) -- Despite five Astros players being placed on the injured list due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, Major League Baseball deemed it safe for them to host the Tigers on Wednesday night.
All five of those players -- Jose Atluve, Alex Bregman, Yordan Alvarez, Martin Maldonado and Robel Garcia had all participated in the game less than 24 hours earlier.
Astros general manager James Click noted before the game that MLB did not believe there was a health and safety reason to postpone, which the GM said the club respected.
Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr., who is also the team's player representative with MLBPA, did not agree with the decision to play.
"I'm don't really understand why we played tonight, quite honestly," McCullers said. "It seems like the rules are different for different teams, depending on who it is, based off the COVID issues. A lot of questions and things we have to get figured out as a team. Hopefully, in the next few days, we do."
MLB's operations manual states the league will not postpone games "for competitive reasons" if the club has a sufficient number of players available on the taxi squad or at its alternative site.
The Astros immediately recalled Taylor Jones, Garrett Stubbs and Abraham Toro from their alternate training site. Alex De Goti and Ronnie Dawson were selected from the training site.
But given the affected players had just played the night before, McCullers thought it would be wise to postpone the game.
"I'll just say that we felt it would've been better if we weren't there today," McCullers said. "I think it would've been the smartest thing to do. But we were overruled."
McCullers, who was pulled after giving up six earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, could not get any of his pitches to work Wednesday.
McCullers admitted to not feeling like himself the past few days since taking the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, which has since been shelved.
"Everything felt off for me tonight," McCullers said. "I don't know what it was, but it was definitely something."
Catcher Jason Castro noted a lack of repeatability in McCullers' mechanics. Manager Dusty Baker said McCullers did not tell anyone he was sick, because he's "a warrior."
The Astros lost 6-4, despite a rally late in the game with the bases loaded and no outs.
The Astros ended the game stranding the bases loaded. They are now losers of five straight.
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