One inning after Jake Meyers left with a side injury, Cristian Javier departed his Wednesday start following a meeting with trainers. Logan Riely / Getty Images
April 8, 2026Updated 4:21 pm EDT
DENVER — Already without ace Hunter Brown for the foreseeable future, the Houston Astros starting rotation may have sustained another seismic blow.
Cristian Javier exited his start Wednesday afternoon with what the team described as right shoulder tightness.
Brown is already on the injured list with a Grade 2 right shoulder strain and has no timetable for a return, thrusting the team’s pitching staff into a state of flux with a stretch of 13 consecutive games starting Friday.
Javier departed Wednesday’s game before the second inning began. After throwing a warmup pitch, Javier appeared to call catcher Christian Vazquez to the mound before summoning athletic trainers from Houston’s dugout. After a brief conversation, Javier left the field.
Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2024 and made just eight starts last season after recovering. He has thrown just 243 innings since signing a five-year, $64 million contract extension before the 2023 season — a stretch in which Javier has a 4.78 ERA.
Houston maintained hope that, after a healthy offseason, Javier could return to the form he showed in 2022, when he posted a 2.45 ERA and started two combined no-hitters. Allowing Framber Valdez to leave in free agency only heightened Houston’s need for Javier to bounce back.
Instead, Javier exited the field with a 12.54 ERA after three starts. He failed to finish five innings in any of them.
An inning before Javier’s injury, Astros starting center fielder Jake Meyers injured his lower back on a check-swing, forcing him to leave the game in the middle of an at-bat.
This is a developing story. More to come.
Apr 8, 2026
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