Banged-up Bregman to tough it out down stretch

HOUSTON — Alex Bregman’s right hamstring isn’t fully healed, but the Astros are pushing him to play down the stretch anyway, with his impressive bat outweighing any concerns the club might have about his ability to run the bases.

Bregman missed 11 games with hamstring discomfort before returning as a pinch-hitter in Tuesday night’s 8-4 win against the Mariners. But the rookie third baseman, who was in the lineup for Wednesday’s game, didn’t have to do any running after knocking his game-tying RBI single in the sixth — catcher Max Stassi pinch-ran for him.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch said Wednesday afternoon that he does have some concerns about Bregman’s baserunning capability. Bregman had a flight scheduled to get some work in at the instructional league camp in Florida, but it was canceled after he ended up playing.

“We have a day off tomorrow, so the thought is we can tax him a little bit today [and] hopefully avoid any sort of setback,” Hinch said before …

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