Houston Astros (14-7) at Cleveland Indians (11-9), April 27, 2017, 5:10 PM CDT

TV: ROOTSW

Radio: KBME 790 AM, La Nueva 94.1 FM

Online: MLB.TV

Indians SBNation Blog: Let’s Go Tribe

Pitching Matchup

RHP Mike Fiers (0-1, 5.40 ERA, 1.53 WHIP) vs. RHP Corey Kluber (2-1, 4.28 ERA, 1.13 WHIP)

Preview

The Astros wrap up their road trip with one more game in Cleveland before returning home to face Oakland. After winning a 3-game series in Tampa, Houston split the first two games in Cleveland to ensure at least a .500 record on their 6-game road trip.

2014 AL CY Young Winner Corey Kluber takes the mound for the Indians after finally getting his season on track with a complete game shutout against the White Sox his last time out. Kluber went at least 6 innings in each of his first three starts, but gave up 5 runs against the Rangers, 3 runs (2 ER) against the Diamondbacks, and 6 runs against the Tigers.

The Astros handled Kluber pretty well last year, scoring 5 runs (all earned) in only 2.2 IP at Minute Maid Park and then scoring another 4 ER in 7 IP at Progressive Field. Marwin Gonzalez and Brian McCann are the only current Astros with homers off Kluber.

Mike Fiers takes the mound for the Astros as he is still looking to put it all together for the first time in 2017. It’s not that Fiers’ three starts in 2017 have been disasters, but he hasn’t had a dominant start yet, which he is capable of doing when he has control of his fastball-curveball combo.

Fiers’ limited Kansas City to 2 runs (one earned) over 6 innings in his first start, but walked 3 and gave up 5 hits while only getting 3 Ks. He gave up 5 ER in 4IP and 3 ER in 5 IP in his other two starts against Seattle and Tampa Bay, respectively.

Fangraphs team page shows that the Astros have only a 37% probability of winning today’s game. However, the 2017 Astros didn’t let the odds stop them in the 3 games that they’ve won after being down by 4 or more on the road. So in the words of Han Solo, “Never tell me the odds”.

Springer and Altuve still out...

George Springer has been out of the starting lineup for 3 games (now 4) after injuring his hamstring running to first in the Tampa Bay series, and Jose Altuve sat last night after colliding with outfielder Teoscar Hernandez going after a fly ball in Tuesday’s game. Neither player was listed on the lineup card for today’s game either.

Go ‘Stros!!