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Game No. 95 Preview: Houston Astros at Oakland Athletics

Astros hope to salvage one game in Oakland.

By Ryan Dunsmore
Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

Houston Astros (50-44) vs. Oakland Athletics (42-52), July 20, 2016, 2:35 PM CDT

TV: Root Sports SW
Online: MLB.TV
Radio: KBME SportsTalk 790 AM, La Nueva 94.1 FM (En Español) 
Athletics SB Nation Blog: Athletics Nation

Pitching Matchup

RHP Doug Fister (9-6, 3.64 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) vs. RHP Daniel Mengden (1-4, 5.54 ERA, 1.49 WHIP)

Preview

The Oakland Athletics have proven to the Houston Astros' Achilles heel. The A's could have easily won the last six games against the Astros and the only two wins for Houston came from walk-off hits. The A's blew open Monday's game with five runs in the fourth inning resulting in a dugout argument between Astros. Tuesday, Oakland picked up a game-tying run against the Astros closer and won the game on an infield single in the 10th.

It has been a painful two games for the Astros. The team now turns to Doug Fister in hopes of picking up at least one win in Oakland. Fister has come back down to earth a bit in his recent starts after being stellar in May and June, he is 4-3 with a 3.83 ERA in his last seven games. He held Oakland to two runs on three hits over eight innings on July 7.

Fister is 7-7 with a 3.06 ERA in 17 career starts against Oakland. He is 3-4 with 3.02 ERA in eight career starts in Oakland. Current A's are batting .278 (47x169) against Fister with a .307 BABIP, 3.20 FIP, 11.0 K% and a 5.0 BB%.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS CAREER STATISTICS VS. DOUG FISTER
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Billy Butler 37 11 0 0 0 5 2 4 0.297 0.317 0.297 0.614
Coco Crisp 23 7 0 2 0 1 0 3 0.304 0.304 0.478 0.783
Jed Lowrie 25 6 3 0 0 0 0 2 0.240 0.240 0.360 0.600
Khris Davis 10 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.400 0.400 0.400 0.800
Sam Fuld 9 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 0.444 0.500 0.556 1.056
Yonder Alonso 8 3 2 0 0 1 1 1 0.375 0.444 0.625 1.069
Josh Reddick 14 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 0.214 0.214 0.214 0.429
Eric Sogard 10 3 0 0 0 3 0 3 0.300 0.300 0.300 0.600
Danny Valencia 13 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.154 0.214 0.154 0.368
Josh Phegley 6 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0.167 0.167 0.167 0.333
Marcus Semien 7 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0.143 0.250 0.143 0.393
Stephen Vogt 7 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0.143 0.333 0.286 0.619
Billy Burns 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.000 0.143 0.000 0.143
Jake Smolinski 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.000 0.250 0.000 0.250

Former Astros prospect Daniel Mengden makes his second start against Houston on Wednesday. He allowed six runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings on July 8 in Houston.

Mengden is 0-1 with a 10.80 ERA in three July starts, his last quality start was on June 27 against the Giants.

Current Astros are batting .316 (6x19) against Mengden with a .417 BABIP, 4.91 BABIP, 27.3 K%, and a 9.1 BB%.

HOUSTON ASTROS CAREER STATISTICS VS. DANIEL MENGDEN
BATTER AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Carlos Correa 3 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 0.667 0.667 1.667 2.333
Jose Altuve 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.667
Jason Castro 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.500 0.500 0.500 1.000
Marwin Gonzalez 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.667
Jake Marisnick 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000 2.000
Carlos Gomez 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
A.J. Reed 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.000 0.500 0.000 0.500
George Springer 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.000 0.333 0.000 0.333
Luis Valbuena 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

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