Astros' Giles dealing with worsening back issues

Houston Astros reliever Ken Giles hasn't appeared in a game in nearly a week, and his absence has nothing to do with his performance.

The 27-year-old closer for the defending World Series champions has been dealing with a back problem that is getting progressively worse, manager AJ Hinch announced.

"He's been battling a little bit of back tightness and had been unavailable the last couple of days,'' Hinch said Thursday, per MLB.com's Terry Blount. "I had him up on Sunday (in the bullpen in Houston), but when we got to Seattle he reported a little bit of back soreness. It has progressively gotten a little bit worse to where he can't go yet."

A stint on the disabled list could be in Giles' future, but Hinch would prefer to avoid it if possible.

"I don't know,'' Hinch said. "We don't want him to miss too much time. Right now, just given that he can't move around and do the things he normally does, it's a little concerning. But we haven't talked DL yet.

"Luckily our starting pitchers have gone deep into games, and I don't have enough innings for all our relievers, so Giles being down a few days hasn't impacted us."

Giles saved 34 games for Houston in 2017 and accrued a 2.30 ERA and 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings. He's only made six appearances so far this season.