clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Game No. 81 Preview: Houston Astros vs. Kansas City Royals

Astros go for the sweep against the Royals.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Astros (46-34) vs. Kansas City Royals (44-30), July 1, 2015 7:10 PM CDT

TV: Roots Sports SW, MLB.TV 
Radio: KBME 790 AM, KLAT 1010 AM
Royals SBNation BlogRoyals Review

Pitching matchup

RHP Vincent Velasquez (0-0, 3.72 ERA, 1.45 WHIP) vs. RHP Edinson Volquez (8-4, 3.18 ERA, 1.17 WHIP)

Preview

Your 2015 American League All-Stars, ladies and gentleman. They can't even beat the Astros. Only kidding, a bit. Go vote for Jose Altuve, why don't you. Who cares about reading the rest of this preview?

Houston has taken the first two games from the Royals with excellent pitching and power bats. Now they turn to the young Vincent Velasquez in the battle of the V's -- Vincent Velasquez vs. Edinson Volquez. Velasquez pitch deep into a game in his last start, pitching 6 1/3 innings against the Yankees. He allowed two runs on five hits in that start.

Volquez was the Royals' choice to replace James Shields this offseason and like many of their choices this offseason it has worked out-- he has post eight quality starts in 15 outings this season. In his most recent start, he allowed one run over seven innings against Oakland.

HOUSTON ASTROS CAREER STATISTICS VS. EDINSON VOLQUEZ
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Colby Rasmus"]">Colby Rasmus 14 5 3 0 1 6 0 4 0.357 0.357 0.786 1.143
Luis Valbuena"]">Luis Valbuena 7 3 1 0 1 2 2 1 0.429 0.556 1.000 1.556
Jason Castro"]">Jason Castro 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.500 0.500 0.500 1.000
Jose Altuve"]">Jose Altuve 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Evan Gattis"]">Evan Gattis 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Marwin Gonzalez"]">Marwin Gonzalez 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.250

✮✮✮

Editor's Note: SB Nation's partner FanDuel is hosting a $125,000 one-day fantasy baseball league today. It's $2 to join and first place wins $10,000. Enter now! Here's the link.