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Game No. 44 Preview: Houston Astros vs. Texas Rangers

Astros look to rebound after Friday's loss to the Rangers.

Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Houston Astros (17-26) vs. Texas Rangers (23-19), May 21, 2016 6:15 PM CDT

TV: FOX
Online: MLB.TV. Fox Sports Go
Radio: KBME SportsTalk 790 AM, La Nueva 94.1 FM (En Español) 
Rangers SB Nation Blog: Lone Star Ball

Pitching Matchup

RHP Mike Fiers (3-1, 4.63 ERA, 1.32 WHIP) vs. LHP Cesar Ramos (0-2, 4.32 ERA, 1.80 WHIP)

Preview

The Houston Astros lost their second straight game 2-1 on Friday. Sure, the first game was against Chris Sale but the second was Colby Lewis -- a little less impressive of a pitcher. The Astros' offense will have to come back alive if they hope to climb back into the AL West race -- facing Cesar Ramos will only help Houston.

Ramos has replaced the injured A.J. Griffin in the Rangers rotation. Ramos is 0-1 with a 3.48 ERA with a 1.94 WHIP In two starts with the Rangers.

Ramos made one start on April 25 -- allowing three runs over six innings against the Yankees. He then made two appearances out of the bullpen, followed by a start on May 15. In that start, he allowed one run on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings.

Ramos is 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA in 10 relief appearances against the Astros. Current Astros are batting .227 (5x22) against Ramos with a .333 BABIP, 2.24 FIP, 28.0 K%, and a 12 BB%.

HOUSTON ASTROS CAREER STATISTICS VS. CESAR RAMOS
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Colby Rasmus 7 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 0.429 0.556 0.429 0.984
Carlos Correa 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.500 0.500 0.500 1.000
Marwin Gonzalez 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.333 0.500 0.333 0.833
Jose Altuve 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Jason Castro 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Evan Gattis 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Jake Marisnick 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Jon Singleton 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
George Springer 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Preston Tucker 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Luis Valbuena 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

The Astros have been able to be very flexible with their rotation and bullpen with six stable option in the rotation. Mike Fiers proved that by coming out of the pen in the Boston series -- that said he did give up two runs over four innings in his one outing.

Before that relief appearance, Fiers put everything together against the Indians. He allowed just one run on three hits over seven innings in the outing. As a starter this season, Fiers is 3-1 with a 4.65 ERA in seven starts.

Fiers only faced the Rangers once during 2015 while with the Astros, it was his first outing with Houston. Fiers allowed six runs on seven hits over five innings of relief -- it is his only career appearance against Texas.

Current Rangers are batting .281 (9x32) against Fiers with a .421 BABIP, 2.09 FIP, 36.4 K%, and a 3.0 BB%.

TEXAS RANGERS CAREER STATISTICS VS. MIKE FIERS
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Adrian Beltre 3 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.667 0.667 1.667 2.333
Elvis Andrus 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.667
Ian Desmond 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.400
Prince Fielder 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.667
Mitch Moreland 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.500 0.500 0.500 1.000
Rougned Odor 3 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0.333 0.333 1.000 1.333
Drew Stubbs 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.400
Bobby Wilson 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.667 1.000
Shin-Soo Choo 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.250
Delino DeShields 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0.000 0.667 0.000 0.667
Josh Hamilton 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

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