The Astros, who were without star second baseman Jose Altuve for the first 43 games of the season, could be facing another extended stretch without a crucial bat. Houston GM Dana Brown said on SportsTalk 790 AM that Yordan Alvarez could miss at least four more weeks due to the right oblique strain he sustained last Thursday.

"With these oblique injuries, they're very tricky," Brown said. "I think it's going to take at least two weeks to get a feel for how it's feeling, how does he feel? So you take those two weeks, and then another week to figure out when he starts to have some activity, how's his body responding? So that's three weeks right there. So you're looking at, once he starts to swing a bat, maybe it's four weeks or so. And that feels like eternity for a guy like Yordan.

"He's such a good hitter, and he's such a big piece of our lineup, so maybe for [manager] Dusty [Baker] it feels like an eternity. We feel comfortable that he'll heal and we'll get him back as soon as we can. We just don't want to rush it because these oblique injuries are very, very difficult."

Alvarez exited Thursday night's game against the Blue Jays with right oblique soreness, which he felt in the batting cage before the game and aggravated during a first-inning at-bat. The slugger traveled back to Houston for further evaluation after being placed on the 10-day injured list on Friday.

Alvarez, who finished third in AL MVP voting last season, is off to another strong campaign, with a .277/.388/.589 slash line, 17 home runs and 55 RBIs in 57 games for the defending World Series champs.