Game 13 Preview: Astros at Athletics

Houston at Oakland, 9:05 PM CT

TV: CSN Houston
Radio: KBME 790
Athletics SBNation Blog: Athletics Nation

Pitching Match

LHP Erik Bedard (0-0 / 0.00 ERA / 0.55 WHIP) vs. LHP Tommy Milone (2-0 / 4.50 ERA / 1.25 WHIP)

Preview

The Astros' adventure out west continues tonight in Oakland. It's another late night for Astros fans that hope to watch Houston right the ship, after a lackluster ending to the series in Anaheim. Today, baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson - all members of both teams will be wearing 42.

Erik Bedard takes the mound for the Astros; Bedard has had a terrific start to the season. All be it a small sample size, Bedard has given up two hits, walked two, and allowed zero runs in seven innings of work thus far in 2013. Bedard has a career record of 4-3 and an ERA of 2.73 when pitching at the Oakland Coliseum. Former Athletic, Chris Carter failed to impress when Oakland was in Houston. Since then Carter is batting .280 with 7 RBIs and 4 home runs. Tommy Milone is relatively unknown to the Astros lineup; Jose Altuve is batting .333 against Milone.

Tommy Milone led the way for the young Oakland staff in 2012. Milone is by no means a fire baller; the lefty survives on pinpoint accuracy. The key to Milone's success is a walk rate that is below 5%. Milone will pound the zone against the Astros; Houston will need to take advantage when he misses his spots. CoCo Crisp has struggles thus far in his career against Bedard with a .143 average; the trend will need to continue if Houston hopes to walk away with a win.