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Game No. 102 Preview: Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels

The Astros and Angels battle for AL West supremacy.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Astros (56-45) vs. Los Angeles Angels (55-44), Jul 29, 2015 7:10 PM CDT

TV: Roots Sports SW, MLB.TV

Radio: KBME 790 AM, KLAT 1010 AM

Angels SB Nation Blog: Halos Heaven

Pitching Matchup

RHP Lance McCullers (4-3, 2.60 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) vs. RHP Garrett Richards (10-7, 3.25 ERA, 1.18 WHIP)

Preview

One day after the Astros trimmed Los Angeles' AL West lead to a virtual tie, now trailing by only percentage points, they will look continue their hot hitting ways and take the AL West lead outright. The Astros efforts could be aided once again by the absence of Mike Trout who is listed as day to day.

In the absence of Trout the Angels could choose to go a number of different routes thanks to a series of recent trades that brought in Shane Victorino, David DeJesus and David Murphy. While having veteran options to step in is a nice luxury, none of the newly acquired Angels will be able to provide even close to the level of production we have become accustomed to from Trout. Trout had been especially hot recently batting .397 with 10 home runs in his last 15 games.

Taking the mound for the Astros will be rookie Lance McCullers. Over his last three starts, McCullers has failed to go more than six innings and is 0-1 with a 3.94 ERA. In his lone start against the Angels, McCullers pitched a strong six innings giving up only one earned run.

Los Angeles vs. McCullers:

Name PA AB H RBI BB SO BA
Erick Aybar 3 3 2 0 0 1 .667
Kole Calhoun 3 2 1 0 1 0 .500
Jonny Giavotella 3 3 0 0 0 0 .000
Chris Iannetta 3 3 0 0 0 0 .000
Efren Navarro 3 2 0 1 0 1 .000
Albert Pujols 3 2 0 0 1 0 .000
Mike Trout 3 2 0 0 0 2 .000
Conor Gilaspie 2 2 1 0 0 1 .000
Shane Victorino 2 2 0 0 0 0 .000
Total 25 20 4 1 3 5 .200

Opposing McCullers will be right-handed pitcher Garrett Richards. Richards has a 2.34 ERA in his last eight starts, while going 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA against the Astros this season. In his career, Richards has a 5-2 record and 3.50 ERA against the Astros in eleven games.

Houston vs. Richards:

Name PA AB H RBI BB SO BA
Jose Altuve 28 25 8 1 3 2 .320
Chris Carter 23 20 6 4 2 6 .300
Jason Castro 22 22 5 2 0 6 .227
Marwin Gonzalez 16 16 2 0 0 6 .125
Colby Rasmus 14 14 4 1 0 3 .286
Evan Gattis 6 4 1 0 2 2 .250
Jon Singleton 6 6 0 0 0 4 .000
Luis Valbuena 6 4 1 2 2 1 .250
Jake Marisnick 3 2 0 0 1 2 .250
Preston Tucker 3 1 0 1 1 1 .000
Total 127 114 27 11 11 33 .237

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