Astros' Phil Maton Suffered Fractured Finger Injury Punching Locker After Poor Outing

Houston Astros reliever Phil Maton will miss the remainder of the 2022 MLB playoffs after suffering a metacarpal fracture in his right pinkie finger.

The right-hander hurt his hand by punching his locker following his final appearance of the regular season. He allowed two earned runs in 0.1 innings of work in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Oct. 5.

Sporting a sizable cast on his hand, he told reporters he has "no excuses for what I did":

On the whole, Maton struggled a bit in the regular season. He posted a 3.84 ERA and a 4.33 FIP while allowing 3.3 walks and 7.9 hits per nine innings over 67 appearances.

Leading up to the playoffs, he had also allowed four earned runs over 5.1 innings of work. He had gone 12 scoreless innings before that, though, so Maton seemed to be hitting his stride in the second half.

Maton's absence may not present a significant setback for the Astros, whose bullpen has been a major strength all year. Houston's relievers combined to rank first in strikeout rate (10.45), FIP (3.05) and xFIP (3.45). Héctor Neris, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly give manager Dusty Baker quite the three-headed monster in high-leverage situations.

For Maton, his injury not only means he'll be unavailable across the postseason, but he'll also join the pantheon of baseball players who were hurt under odd circumstances.