Astros ace Justin Verlander: 'I kind of dodged a bullet here' with calf injury

The Houston Astros will be without Justin Verlander for a stretch after placing the pitcher on the 15-day injured list, but the Cy Young favorite said the news is much more of a positive than a negative.

"Look there was an injury, but when it comes to calf injuries, I kind of dodged a bullet here," Verlander said Tuesday, via Bob Nightengale of USA Today. "This is about as good of news as I could have gotten."

Verlander, 39, exited early in his last start after three scoreless innings against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday. The team called the injury "calf discomfort" at the time before telling reporters Tuesday that an MRI revealed "fascial disruption, but not muscle fiber disruption."

Houston has the best record in the American League at 82-47. Verlander leads all pitchers in MLB with a 1.84 ERA and is tied for the lead in wins with 16. The nine-time MLB All-Star has won the AL Cy Young Award twice with his last win coming in 2019. He spent the first 12 years of his career in the majors with the Detroit Tigers before he was traded to the Astros in 2017.

Astros general manager James Click says the team's expectation is that Verlander will be out of action with a "relatively short-term" recovery timeline.