The season that started with a 6-3 record for the Houston Astros quickly turned nightmarish. The Astros are reeling from an 8-game losing streak, while being plagued by several injuries at the same time. As they suffered through a four-game sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners, Carlos Correa expressed his clear disinterest in giving any ‘excuse’ to justify his team’s downward spiral.

The Astros started the 2026 season hoping to make the playoffs, but are currently sitting at the bottom of the AL West, with a 6-11 record. Their four-game series against the Mariners ended with a 6-2 loss at T-Mobile Park, Seattle. Before heading home to play the Rockies, Carlos Correa got real about the team’s struggles. According to MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, when asked about the Astros’ injury woes, Correa refused to use it as an excuse for the team’s current state.

“Everything goes to injuries. I don’t want to attach our failures to just injuries,” stated Correa, per McTaggart via X. “Our failures are because we’re playing s—ty baseball. There’s no way around it. There is no excuse.”

Correa is one of the few players who escaped the injury wave that rocked the Astros camp this season. The three-time former All-Star is hitting at a .291 average, going 16-for-55 with 9 RBI and 1 homer. As a team, the Astros’ hitting stats land them among the top 10 teams.

In terms of batting average, the Astros are third among the thirty teams (.272), with their .805 OPS being second. In terms of homers, they rank fifth, having driven 19 homers so far as a team.

The above stats clearly indicate that the problem lies elsewhere, and that’s where the injury factor comes in. The Astros’ pitching mainly took the blow in the case of injury setbacks. Starters Hunter Brown and Cristian Javier are dealing with shoulder issues, while reliever Cody Bolton is suffering from back tightness. Neither of these pitchers has a return timeline at the moment. Right-arm fatigue has landed Tatsuya Imai on the 15-day IL as well.

However, even before they ended up injured, their pitching was not up to the mark. Javier had logged a 12.54 ERA in 3 starts, giving up 13 runs in 13 hits. Imai posted a 7.27 ERA with 7 runs in 3 starts across 8.2 innings. Among them, in 2 starts, Brown posted a 0.84 ERA, giving up 5 hits in 10.2 innings while striking out 17.

According to MLB.com, the Astros’ team ERA of 6.50 is the worst in the majors at the moment. With no timeline for the pitchers’ return to rely upon, Correa does not want to wait for the situation to change. He believes in taking ownership of their current struggles and finding a way to snap out of it.

Putting his faith in his teammates, Correa stated, “I think we can’t use that (injuries) as an excuse anymore. We have to just go out there and figure out, with the guys we have, how to win ballgames. We have a lot of great people here, a lot of great players, we’re just not playing our best baseball right now, and that’s why we’re not winning games.”

The Astros have lost 9 out of their last 10 road games. It is their worst run since 2012, when they went 55-107. Their current eight-game losing streak is also their longest since 2013, when they lost 15 straight games.

With the team going through one of their worst seasons in over a decade, Correa and the team would want to turn the page at their home ground on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Imai got a positive update on his arm injury.

Tatsuya Imai gets a positive injury update

The Houston Astros placed their rookie starter, Tatsuya Imai, on the 15-day IL following his disastrous start against the Seattle Mariners on April 10.

The 27-year-old right-hander was pulled from the mound after just 0.1 inning of pitching against the Mariners. In his brief stint, Imai gave up 1 hit, 3 earned runs, four walks, and recorded zero strikeouts.

Following his outing against the Mariners, the Astros sent Imai back to Houston to check for a potential injury. He was later diagnosed with right-arm fatigue.

Chandler Rome of The Athletic shared a recent update on Imai’s injured throwing arm. Rome reported on X that the imaging on his arm has come back clean with positive results.

The X post read, “Imaging on Tatsuya Imai’s arm has come back clean and ‘positive,'” Imai said through an interpreter. The team will try to increase his arm strength before Imai resumes throwing.”

It’s understandable for Imai to have difficulties in adjusting to the MLB, as Japanese starting pitchers usually pitch once a week. It makes it physically taxing to adjust to the major league 5-day routine. However, it will be better for him to adjust soon for his sake and the Astros’.