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In the wake of a glaring drop in his pitch velocity of late, Astros righthander Josh James is experiencing arm fatigue.

"I'll probably stay away from him for a day or two," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said before Monday's game against the A's.

James usually averages close to 98 mph on his four-seam fastball. The second-year reliever averaged 93.6 mph on it Sunday.

After James got the second out of the sixth inning with a fastball around 93 mph, Hinch, pitching coach Brent Strom and assistant athletic trainer Lee Meyer came out for a mound visit.

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James stayed in and gave up a home run. Then Hinch took him out.

"I'm working on it. I'll be fine," James said Monday.

Neither James nor the team would identify publicly which part of his arm is bothered.

"It's a little bit of everything," James said.

"Not anything more specific," Hinch said. "It's just the rigors of a season in July and August, where guys don't feel great every single day. He'll be day-to-day.

"We didn't like what we saw yesterday, with him trying to govern himself on the field and play less than 100 percent."

James, who has totaled 51 1/3 innings this season, has a 5.40 ERA in nine July appearances.

"A couple days down, and I'll be all right," James said.

"I think he's going to have those times when he comes out and doesn't feel 100 percent and the (velocity) is not there," general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "I don't think it's an injury, but I'm glad A.J. pulled him because he clearly didn't have the same stuff as he had before.

"We know he's got a strong arm. I've seen this before from him where he goes out and doesn't throw quite as hard and doesn't feel quite as good. Sometimes we ask him to pitch two innings, and he may not bounce back that quickly. We'll have to manage it, but I'm not concerned about it right now."

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