Correa's status unknown after aggravating shoulder injury

All the Houston Astros can do right now is hope they dodged a potentially season-ending bullet.

Shortstop Carlos Correa exited Houston's crushing 10-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth inning Friday after a diving attempt to snag Rafael Ortega's pop-up - which turned into a bloop double - went very wrong. Correa landed on his left shoulder and aggravated a previous injury, manager A.J. Hinch told reporters.

"If that ball drops and he doesn't dive, I probably feel a little better in my stomach than I do right now," Hinch said, according to MLB.com's Jordan Ray.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

Hinch added that the 22-year-old "fought me to stay in" before eventually relenting to his manager's wishes.

Correa, who missed four games earlier in September due to inflammation in his left shoulder, said through an Astros spokesman that he expects to play in Saturday's game. Hinch couldn't guarantee that will happen, however, as the extent of his injury won't be fully known until Saturday.

"He's a really tough kid, and he sold out for that out to keep the game within one run," Hinch said. "I appreciate that kid so much - what he's about and how he does it."

Losing Correa for any length of time would be a massive blow to the Astros, who need all the help they can get to stay in the wild-card picture. Friday's loss - their second in as many nights - dropped them to 2 1/2 games behind Detroit for the second wild-card berth.