Altuve returned to the lineup Friday and went 0-for-5 with an RBI in an 11-1 win over the Mariners.
Houston manager Dusty Baker gave Altuve a two-day mental break from playing, but it did not snap him out of an early-season funk. "Good hitters go through slumps that they're not accustomed to," Baker told Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle. "Altuve can hit. He's chasing bad pitches and taking good pitches. Every time you look up, you got two strikes on you. Altuve's been hitting all his life, it's just a matter of time until Altuve hits again." The second baseman has a .563 OPS over 88 plate appearances.