Houston Astros (42-63) at Oakland Athletics (65-39), 7:10 p.m. (CST)
TV: CSN Houston, MLB.TV
Radio: KBME 790 AM, KLAT 1010 AM
Athletics SBNation Blog: Athletics Nation
Pitching matchup
LHP Brett Oberholtzer (2-7, 4.32 ERA, 1.42 WHIP) vs. RHP Jesse Chavez (8-6, 3.14 ERA, 1.29 WHIP)
Preview
I grew up in the '00s, and Dave Chappelle warped my mind forever. As a result every time Oakland squares off against the Astros, I think of this clip -
The A's have only reinforced that aggressive image of Oakland by beating up on the Astros and Major League Baseball in general. The A's have the best record in baseball at 65-39, and are 22-7 against the Astros since they moved to the American League. Yes, Houston lock your doors when Oakland comes to town.
Brett Oberholtzer will be Houston's Gandalf the Grey to Oakland's Balrog. Oberholtzer has scrapped and clawed his way back into the rotation after the downturn of Brad Peacock. Since May, Oberholtzer has a 3.45 ERA over seven starts. In his last start in Oakland, he held the A's to two runs over seven innings - in route the Astros only win over the weekend.
In the game Friday, Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Donaldson each had a double off Obe'. These two have positive track record against the Astros lefty - Cespedes is 4-for-10 with two extra-base hits and Donaldson is 5-for-10 with four extra-base hits. Craig Gentry and Jed Lowrie are both 4-for-11 in their careers against Oberholtzer.
Jesse Chavez takes the mound for a second-straight start between these two teams, like Oberholtzer. In that last start he held the Astros to two runs on four hits over 5.2 innings. He walked two and struck out seven during the game. Chavez has given up just five earned runs over his last 17.1 (3 starts) innings. His large arsenal of pitches will be his key to success, especially his low-90s cutter.
Chavez held the Astros hitless through the first four inning in their last encounter. Matt Dominguez, Enrique Hernandez, Jason Castro, and Jon Singleton broke through in the fifth and sixth inning to put the Astros two runs off Chavez. Jose Altuve is batting .308 (4-13) with two doubles in his career against Chavez. The alling Marwin Gonazelz is 2-for-5 with a home run against tonight's Oakland starter.
Series Prediction
The Astros will be swept by the A's. The continued absence of the Fowler and Springer is too much to overcome. Chris Carter and Jon Singleton will both deposit baseball into the Crawford Boxes.