HOUSTON -- With his team one win from clinching its seventh AL West title in the last eight seasons, Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez was out of the starting lineup for the series opener against the Mariners on Monday because of a sprained right knee. After the game, Astros manager Joe Espada said the slugger would miss the duration of the series, while adding he hoped Alvarez would be available for the club's weekend series in Cleveland.

Espada said an X-ray performed Sunday showed some inflammation in the area and that Alvarez had an MRI on Monday afternoon.

"If there’s a chance for him to come back in the regular season, it’s good news. I hope it would have been just one game, but that’s not the case."

“We want to make sure we go in there and check all the boxes, so he’s getting some extra testing done,” Espada said. “I spoke with him this morning and he woke up pretty sore. I was expecting him, praying, that he felt better, but that wasn’t the case. So we’ll see once we get these results, once he walks in here.”

Espada said the MRI was scheduled to be performed regardless of the results of the X-ray.

“We just want to make sure we go deep in there and make sure everything is fine,” he said.

Alvarez, who started Sunday’s game in left field and was 2-for-2, was removed from the game with a right knee contusion following a hard slide into second base. Alvarez slid into second base on a double and was clearly in some discomfort when he stood up. He bent over at the waist and was massaging the knee before hobbling off the field.

“When he landed, the body weight, he just didn’t feel good,” Espada said.

Alvarez underwent arthroscopic surgery on both knees in August 2020 after suffering knee problems the first two years of his career. He had a slight tear of the patellar tendon in his right knee, which was repaired. On July 6 in Minnesota, Alvarez was struck on the right knee by a 94-mph Joe Ryan fastball and knocked to the ground and missed one game.

Alvarez is wrapping up another standout season at the plate, having hit .308 with 35 homers, 34 doubles and a .959 OPS through 147 games. He has 53 multihit games, which are the most by an Astros player since Michael Brantley had 56 in 2019. Alvarez went 4-for-5 with a home run and a double in Saturday’s win.