Despite saying that Hunter Pence would be back for last night’s game, the Astros clearly underestimated the extent of his injury (this is becoming a reoccuring theme) and because he couldn’t properly swing a bat yet, the Astros will be without his services until at least Friday:

“It’s just not ready to swing,” he said. “It’s close, very close, but I’m not ready. There’s really no way other to say I can’t really swing. Until I can, I don’t know how you can really play. I’m going to wait until it’s ready so I can play. I’m going to play hard and play good.”

…

“Unless all of a sudden he shows up and he’s able to swing and everything’s fine,” Mills said. “I don’t see that happening after talking with him today and how sore he was today.”

With Pence hurt and J.R. Towles also spending a lot of time on the bench with a case of general soreness, the Astros have been playing short-handed for the last couple of days, and it looks like that will continue into tonight’s game.