Game No. 36 Preview: Houston Astros vs. New York Yankees

Houston Astros (24-11) vs. New York Yankees (21-11), May 12, 2017, 6:05 PM CDT

TV: ROOTSW, MLB Network
Radio: KBME 790 AM, La Nueva 94.1 FM
Online: MLB.TV
Yankees SBNation Blog: Pinstripe Alley

Pitching Matchup

RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (2-1, 3.40 ERA, 1.18 WHIP) vs. LHP Jordan Montgomery (2-1, 3.81 ERA, 1.38 WHIP)

Preview

The team with the best record in the American League and the best winning percentage in Major League Baseball is......our Houston Astros.

The Astros return to Yankee Stadium for the game No.2 of their four-game series. Houston faces New York rookie Jordan Montgomery.

Montgomery, 24, was a fourth-round pick in the 2014 Draft out of South Carolina. He has been serviceable with three quality starts in his last four outings. He is pretty even with his ground-to-fly ball rate in the majors (40.5%-to-41.8%). But he leans toward a flyball in his minor league career. He has four pitches: fastball, cutter, curveball and a changeup with the curveball being the second-most used (21.0%).

Of course, this is the first time any Astros will have faced Montgomery in the majors.

Montgomery faces another young gun, 23-year-old Lance McCullers.

After an up and down April, McCullers has been lights out in April. He has a 1.35 ERA in 13 1/3 innings. McCullers makes his first start in Yankee Stadium. He is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in one career start against the Yankees.

Brett Gardner, Didi Gregorius, and Aaron Hicks each have his against McCullers in small samples sizes. Gardner, Hicks and Chase Headley each have two strikeouts in three-plus at-bats.