Altuve leaves WBC quarterfinals after taking pitch off hand

Venezuela's Jose Altuve exited the quarterfinals of the World Baseball Classic against the United States on Saturday after taking a pitch off his hand from reliever Daniel Bard in the fifth inning.

The Houston Astros' initial concern is that Altuve has a broken right thumb, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

"Jose Altuve is being evaluated for an injury to his right hand. The Astros will provide an update tomorrow," Astros general manager Dana Brown said, according to Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle.

Luis Rengifo replaced Altuve after the star second baseman departed.

"You don't like it, but we don't have any word yet. So, you're always trying not to think the worst," Astros manager Dusty Baker said when asked about Altuve, according to Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle.

The injury to Altuve comes on the heels of New York Mets star closer Edwin Diaz suffering a torn patellar tendon in his knee during a WBC game, which resulted in questions concerning the timing of the tournament with the new MLB season a few weeks away.