Astros battling injuries to multiple players, including Jeremy Peña and Cristian Javier, with playoffs on the line

The injuries come at the worst possible time for the Astros, who moved into first place in the American League West with the win. But with five regular-season games remaining, the team now needs to — at the very least — match the Texas Rangers to actually reach the postseason. Following Tuesday's contests, both teams hold an identical 78-79 record, but the Astros own the tiebreaker.

In addition to those injuries, shortstop Jeremy Peña took a fastball off his forearm late in Tuesday's contest and Daulton Varsho missed the game due to a wrist issue. At this point in the season, any player the team puts on the injured list would also miss the wild-card series, putting the Astros in a difficult spot in the final week of the regular season , per The Athletic.

Despite taking a pitch off the forearm, Peña was initially able to stay in the contest. He scored a run shortly after reaching first base, as Yordan Alvarez hit his 41st home run of the season. When the Astros took the field defensively in the bottom half of the inning, Peña was replaced by Nick Allen . X-rays on Peña injuries came back negative.