Series Preview: Houston Astros at Tampa Bay Rays, June 10-12, 2016

Houston Astros (29-33) at Tampa Bay Rays (27-31), June 10-12 2016

The Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros,are a battle of two teams  under .500 at Tropicana Field for a three-game weekend series. The Rays have won 5-of-7 against some dismal opponents: the Diamondbacks and Twins. The Astros have lost 3-for-4 against the Rangers and are without Carlos Correa at least for Friday. Correa is day-to-day with an ankle sprain.

The Astros will have to take some games in the win column in Tampa Bay if they hope to turn around their 10-game road trip.

Starting pitching

Friday: RHP Lance McCullers (3-1, 4.23 ERA, 1.66 WHIP)  vs. RHP Matt Andriese (4-0, 2.52 ERA, 1.02 WHIP)

Saturday: RHP Mike Fiers (3-3, 5.00 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) vs. RHP Chris Archer (4-7, 4.73 ERA, 1.51 WHIP)

Sunday: LHP Dallas Keuchel (3-8, 5.44 ERA, 1.44 WHIP)  vs. LHP Matt Moore (2-4, 5.56 ERA, 1.48 WHIP)

Lance McCullers, a Tampa Bay native, gets the game one start for the Astros against the Rays. McCullers has won his last three outings, posting a 3.18 ERA over those starts. He had his best start on 2016 in his last outing, McCullers held the A's to two runs on eight hits in seven innings.

In McCullers one start at Tropicana Field in 2015, he allowed four runs on four hits over six innings. Current Rays are batting .056 (1x18) against McCullers with a .077 BABIP, 3.01 FIP, 23.8 K%, and a 14.3 BB%.

Matt Andriese appears to be have figured things out in 2016 after posted a 4.11 ERA in eight last season. He is 4-0 with a 2.52 ERA in six starts in 2016. Andriese pitched only five innings in his last start, but still picked up the win. He allowed two runs on eight hits, and he struck out five and walked zero against the Twins.

Current Astros are batting .600 (3x5) against Andriese with a .750 BABIP, 8.20 FIP, 16.7 K%, and a 16.7 BB%.

Mike Fiers has been up and down over his last three starts. He has pitched 3 2/3 innings in one start, allowed just one run over six in the next and gave up four over 5 1/3 in his most recent start. He faces Chris Archer in game two.

Chris Archer has picked up a solid number of innings for the Rays over his last three starts, 20 in total. But he has given up seven runs over his last 12 innings for Tampa bay.

Dallas Keuchel continues back to his 2015 Cy Young form, but he looked good against the Rangers before giving up a key two-run home run in the eight. Matt Moore is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 12 June innings.

Lineup

Evan Longoria is swinging a hot bat for the Rays over the team's last six games. He is batting .350 (6x20) with four home runs and six RBIs. Logan Morrison also has four home runs during that time. Desmond Jennings is batting .455 in his last 11 at-bats with two home runs and three RBIs. Shortstop Brad Miller is batting .185 his in his last seven games with three RBIs.

Jose Altuve is still leading the Astros offense, he is batting .407 (11x27) with a double, a home run and six RBIs in the team's last seven games. Altuve will take over the No. 3 hole with Correa on the shelf. Luis Valbuena and Marwin Gonzalez have been hot with the bat as well. Valbuena is batting .348 (8x23) in his last seven games with two doubles. Gonzalez is batting .333 (7x21) with two doubles. Evan Gattis has three home runs in his last 27 at-bats.

George Springer has cooled off a bit, he is batting .194 (6x31) with one home run in his last seven games. Carlos Gomez is still Carlos Gomez in 2016, he is batting .188 (3x16) in his last five games.

Prediction

Astros take two of three from the Rays behind McCullers and Keuchel.

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