DEMOTED
Astros send former closer Ken Giles to minors after poor effort, outburst
SportsMap Staff
Jul 11, 2018, 3:37 pm
Ken Giles is headed to the minors. Al Bello/Getty Images
Ken Giles nearly blew a save Tuesday night. Then he blew a gasket.
Then on Wednesday the Astros blew him out of the water.
Giles was sent down to Triple-A Fresno, one day after giving up three straight singles to the Oakland Athletics. He was pulled by manager A.J. Hinch and appeared to utter an obscenity as he stormed off the mound.
Giles has been a poster boy of inconsistency all season. He has an 0-2 record and 4.99 ERA in 34 appearances. But he also has 31 strikeouts and 12 saves.
"We need to get him right," Hinch told multiple reporters before Wednesday's game. "He’s not right. We need to get him right mentally and physically.”
Reportedly he has groused about his role with the team, and Tuesday night's outburst was enough to bring about change. Cionel Perez was called up to take his spot on the roster. Perez was called up briefly recently but did not get in a game.
Perez, a lefty, was 6-1 at Corpus Christi with a 1.98 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 68.1 innings.
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Critical levers Astros can pull as health concerns, deadline pressures grow
Jul 10, 2025, 3:46 pm
Jake Meyers is the latest Astro to be rushed back from injury too soon. Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images.
Houston center fielder Jake Meyers was removed from Wednesday night’s game against Cleveland during pregame warmups because of right calf tightness.
Meyers, who had missed the last two games with a right calf injury, jogged onto the field before the game but soon summoned the training staff, who joined him on the field to tend to him. He remained on the field on one knee as manager Joe Espada joined the group. After a couple minutes, Meyers got up and was helped off the field and to the tunnel in right field by a trainer.
Mauricio Dubón moved from shortstop to center field and Zack Short entered the game to replace Dubón at shortstop.
Meyers is batting .308 with three homers and 21 RBIs this season.
After the game, Meyers met with the media and spoke about the injury. Meyers declined to answer when asked if the latest injury feels worse than the one he sustained Sunday. Wow, that is not a good sign.
Asked if this calf injury feels worse than the one he sustained on Sunday, Jake Meyers looked toward a team spokesman and asked "do I have to answer that?" He did not and then politely ended the interview.
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) July 10, 2025
Lack of imaging strikes again!
The Athletic's Chandler Rome reported on Thursday that the Astros didn't do any imaging on Meyers after the initial injury. You can't make this stuff up. This is exactly the kind of thing that has the Astros return-to-play policy under constant scrutiny.
The All-Star break is right around the corner, why take the risk in playing Meyers after missing just two games with calf discomfort? The guy literally fell to the ground running out to his position before the game started. The people that make these risk vs. reward assessments clearly are making some serious mistakes.
The question remains: will the Astros finally do something about it?