SEATTLE (AP) — Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña left Saturday night's 8-7 loss to the Seattle Mariners in the fourth inning because of right posterior knee tightness.
Peña exited the game as a precaution and will get imaging done Sunday.
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Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena warms up before a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, right, tags out Houston Astros' Jeremy Pena at second base on the back end of a double play hit into by Yordan Alvarez in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Seattle Mariners' Cole Young is tagged out attempting to steal second by Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Houston Astros' Jeremy Peña, right, slides safely into second base on a double while Colorado Rockies second baseman Edouard Julien, left, collects a throw from the outfield in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
“I just felt the back of my knee tightening up,” he said.
Peña singled off starter Luis Castillo in the fourth, advanced to second on Yordan Alvarez's flyout and went to third on an RBI single by Isaac Paredes.
As the Mariners made a pitching change, pinch-runner Nick Allen replaced Peña at third.
Peña said his knee tightened up during Houston's 9-6 loss on Friday, but he finished the game. He went 1 for 5 with a run scored.
“I didn't tell anybody, which I probably should have,” he said. "I woke up today feeling really good, went into the game feeling really good. And then it tightened up on me.
“I think it's best to stay on top of it.”
Peña is batting .256 with five runs scored this season. He was the World Series MVP and American League Championship Series MVP as a rookie in 2022.
Peña made his first All-Star team last year, when he batted .304 with 17 home runs, 62 RBIs, 20 stolen bases and an .840 OPS in 125 games.
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Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena warms up before a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Colorado Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, right, tags out Houston Astros' Jeremy Pena at second base on the back end of a double play hit into by Yordan Alvarez in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Seattle Mariners' Cole Young is tagged out attempting to steal second by Houston Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Houston Astros' Jeremy Peña, right, slides safely into second base on a double while Colorado Rockies second baseman Edouard Julien, left, collects a throw from the outfield in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Monday, April 6, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarians were casting ballots Sunday in what is widely seen as Europe's most consequential election this year, a vote that could unseat populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, after 16 years in power.
It's a key moment for Orbán, the European Union’s longest-serving leader and one of its biggest antagonists, who has traveled a long road from his early days as a liberal, anti-Soviet firebrand to the Russia-friendly nationalist admired today by the global far-right.
Polls opened at 6 a.m. local time and were scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Orbán and his top challenger, Péter Magyar, were expected to cast their votes later in the morning.
The election was being closely watched in countries around Europe and beyond, which is a testament to the outsize role Orbán occupies in far-right populist politics worldwide.
Members of Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement are among those who see Orbán's government and his Fidesz political party as shining examples of conservative, anti-globalist politics in action, while he is reviled by advocates of liberal democracy and the rule of law.
Casting her ballot in Budapest early Sunday, retiree Eszter Szatmári, 62, said she felt the election was “basically our last chance to see anything vaguely resembling ... democracy in Hungary.”
"We all have to make real effort to show to the world that we are not what people thought we were in past 10 years,” she said.
After the first hour of voting, 3.6% of registered voters had cast a ballot, according to the National Election Office. The figure was a record in Hungary's post-Socialist history and nearly twice the turnout from the same period in 2022 elections.
During his 16 years as prime minister, Orbán has launched harsh crackdowns on minority rights and media freedoms, subverted many of Hungary's institutions and been accused of siphoning large sums of money into the coffers of his allied business elite, an allegation he denies.
He also has heavily strained Hungary's relationship with the EU, seeming to revel in using his veto power to stymie the 27-member bloc's important decisions. Most recently, he blocked a 90-billion euro ($104 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, prompting his partners to accuse him of hijacking the critical aid.
Yet after winning four consecutive elections with a two-thirds majority for his party in Parliament, signs have emerged that Orbán's absolute control over Hungary's politics may be reaching its end.
Magyar has rapidly risen to become Orbán's most serious challenger. The 45-year-old leader of the center-right Tisza party, which is leading in independent polls, campaigned on issues affecting ordinary voters including Hungary’s faltering public health care and transportation sectors and what he describes as rampant government corruption.
A former insider within Orbán's Fidesz, Magyar broke with the party in 2024 and quickly formed Tisza. Since then, he has toured Hungary relentlessly, holding rallies in settlements big and small in a campaign blitz that recently had him visiting up to six towns daily.
In an interview with The Associated Press earlier this month, Magyar said the election will be a “referendum” on whether Hungary continues on its drift toward Russia under Orbán, or can retake its place among the democratic societies of Europe.
Magyar and Tisza face a tough fight. Orbán's control of Hungary's public media, which he has transformed into a mouthpiece for his party, and vast swaths of the private media market give him an advantage in spreading his message.
The unilateral transformation of Hungary's electoral system and gerrymandering of its 106 voting districts by Fidesz also will require Tisza to gain an estimated 5% more votes than Orbán’s party to achieve a simple majority.
Additionally, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians in neighboring countries have the right to vote in Hungarian elections and traditionally have voted overwhelmingly for Orbán's party.
There also have been comments ahead of the election that external meddling and internal fraud could taint the result. Fidesz and Tisza both have launched platforms for reporting irregularities, accusing their opponents of planning to commit election abuses.
Russian secret services have plotted to interfere and tip the election in Orbán's favor, according to numerous media reports including by The Washington Post. The prime minister, however, has accused neighboring Ukraine, as well as Hungary's allies in the EU, of seeking to interfere in the vote to install a “pro-Ukraine” government.
Such accusations are part of why many in the EU who see Orbán as a danger to the bloc's future hope he loses and a new Hungarian government under Magyar will prove a better partner.
But across the Atlantic, Trump and his MAGA movement are all-in for another Orbán term. Trump has repeatedly endorsed the Hungarian leader and U.S. Vice President JD Vance made a two-day visit to Hungary last week meant to help push Orbán over the finish line.
Florent Bajrami contributed.
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party hold up their lit phones during a final election rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters of Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party hold up their lit phones during a final election rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Peter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza party attends a rally in Debrecen, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Supporters attend electoral campaign closing rally of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the governing Fidesz in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban attends the electoral campaign closing rally of the governing Fidesz in Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
