Astros' Lowrie out 4-6 weeks with ankle injury

So much for Jed Lowrie being part of any trade-deadline talks.

The Houston Astros learned Tuesday that their shortstop will miss 4-6 weeks with a sprained ankle and damage to the peroneal nerve as a result of his collision at second base Saturday.

The nerve injury, confirmed by team medical personnel before the Astros' 8-2 loss to the Padres on Tuesday night, is the worse of the two and will keep him in a boot for roughly a week. It also might send the Astros to the trade market. While Marwin Gonzalez is getting time now, general manager Jeff Luhnow said the Astros will consider options both inside and outside the organization.

"We're going to have to think about how to cover his at-bats and his innings out there," Luhnow said. "Marwin's playing great, but when you have a player coming up from AA and you ask him to play every day ... we're certainly thankful we have him and he's going to get a lot of playing time, but we need to consider other options, whether it's bringing up somebody else from Triple-A or looking outside the organization."

The likely candidate from inside the organization is Angel Sanchez, who has been the primary shortstop at Triple-A Oklahoma City. He is hitting .299 with a .375 on-base percentage and a .386 slugging percentage and played with the big-league Astros from midway through 2010 through 2011.

The loss of Lowrie is significant for an offense that has been in a funk for much of the last two months. Lowrie has been consistent in getting on base either from the No. 2 spot or the No. 5 spot with a .343 on-base percentage and leads the team with 14 home runs.

Plays at second base have now cost him twice this season. He missed the last week of spring training and first week of the season after his hand was jammed diving into second base.