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Game No. 41 Preview: Houston Astros vs. Oakland Athletics

Astros hope for series victory over A's with Dallas Keuchel on the mound.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Astros (26-14) vs. Oakland Athletics (14-27), May 20, 2015 1:10 PM CDT

TV: Roots Sports SW, MLB.TV 
Radio: KBME 790 AM, KLAT 1010 AM
Athletics SBNation BlogAthletics Nation

Pitching matchup

LHP Dallas Keuchel (5-0, 1.87 ERA, 0.95 WHIP) vs. RHP Jesse Hahn (1-3, 4.42 ERA, 1.27 WHIP)

Preview

The Astros their best team record through 40 games in team history at 26-14, even better the teams from the late 90's. At some point I'm going to have pinch myself to make sure this is real and the Astros really do have staying power. The Astros added three home runs to their 60 home run season total, a full six home runs ahead of the next team.

The Astros now turn to their five-star beard commander to pick up the series win. Dallas Keuchel has been unworldly this season with a 0.73 ERA in April. He has come back down to earth, he has given up four runs each of his last two start. But both starts were wins. Keuchel pitched a nine innings of scoreless baseball against the A's on April 24, Houston won that game in extra innings. Keuchel is 14-13 with a 3.52 ERA in 44 games at Minute Maid Park.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS CAREER STATISTICS VS. DALLAS KEUCHEL
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Coco Crisp"]">Coco Crisp 19 7 3 0 0 1 4 1 0.368 0.478 0.526 1.005
Nate Freiman"]">Nate Freiman 14 7 3 0 2 7 0 2 0.500 0.500 1.143 1.643
Craig Gentry"]">Craig Gentry 20 3 0 0 0 0 1 5 0.150 0.261 0.150 0.411
Sam Fuld"]">Sam Fuld 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.667 0.667 0.667 1.333
Ben Zobrist"]">Ben Zobrist 11 2 2 0 0 0 3 0 0.182 0.357 0.364 0.721
Josh Reddick"]">Josh Reddick 11 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.091 0.167 0.091 0.258
Marcus Semien"]">Marcus Semien 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.250 0.250 0.250 0.500
Eric Sogard"]">Eric Sogard 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.250 0.250 0.250 0.500
Billy Burns"]">Billy Burns 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Billy Butler"]">Billy Butler 8 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.000 0.111 0.000 0.111
Mark Canha"]">Mark Canha 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.250
Brett Lawrie"]">Brett Lawrie 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Josh Phegley"]">Josh Phegley 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Jesse Hahn starts today for the A's. Hahn started the season strong with a 2.86 ERA in four starts in April. In May, he has given up 12 earned runs over 16 2/3 innings. This is Hahn's first start against the Astros.

HOUSTON ASTROS CAREER STATISTICS VS. JESSE HAHN
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Evan Gattis"]">Evan Gattis 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

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