Houston Astros Host Texas Rangers: Series Boil

Tonight at 7:10 PM CT, the Houston Astros will start a three-game set at home against the Texas Rangers. Tonight’s game is the first of a six-game home series which will continue against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

After starting the season by going 3-4 at home, the Astros dropped two-of-three at Minnesota before taking two-of-three at Pittsburgh to finish their first road trip at 6-7.

In the series finale on Wednesday, Jose Urquidy pitched six strong shutout innings. It was two-thirds of the eventual three-hitter, completed by Hector Neris, Bryan Abreu, and Ronel Blanco. Corey Julks went deep for the first time in his career, as did Alex Bregman (2). Mauricio Dubón continued his hot start, extending his hitting streak to eight games with a pair of hits (13-for-33 for a .394 average).

The Rangers have started their season pretty well. After entering their series against the Kansas City Royals at 5-4, they took the first two games of the three-game set before losing on Wednesday, 10-1. Kansas City pitching held the Rangers to four hits and only one run, on a Nathaniel Lowe homer.

The last time Houston faced the Rangers was from September 5 through 7 of last year. Houston took 14-of-19 from Texas overall. In the series finale, the Astros walked off the Rangers when Jose Altuve crossed the plate in the bottom of the 10th on a Jonathan Hernandez wild pitch. The combination of Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero, and Hector Neris (W, 5-4) held the Rangers without a runner through the final four frames, save the Manfred runner.

All-Time Head to Head: Houston is 123-130 all time against the Rangers, a .486 winning percentage.

Standings
Houston Astros: 6-7, .462, third in the AL West, 1.5 GB, 1.5 WCGB, tied for ninth in the AL, tied for 17th in MLB, on pace for 75-87, 96.5 percent playoff odds.

Texas Rangers: 7-5, .583, tied for first in the AL West, tied for fifth in the AL, tied for 12th in MLB, on pace for 95-67, 13.1 percent playoff odds.

Team leaders
Average — Travis Jankowski .364, Mauricio Dubon .361, Corey Seager .359, Kyle Tucker .311, Yordan Alvarez .300
OBP —Corey Seager .469, Travis Jankowski .462, Kyle Tucker .429, Yordan Alvarez .420, Josh Smith .407
SLG — Kyle Tucker .622, Bubba Thompson .600, Mitch Garver, Yordan Alvarez, .575, Travis Jankowski .545
OPS — Kyle Tucker 1.051, Travis Jankowski & Corey Seager 1.007, Yordan Alvarez .995, Mitch Garver .943
HR — Kyle Tucker 4, Yordan Alvarez 3, eight tied at 2
RBI — Yordan Alvarez 16, Kyle Tucker 13, Adolis García 11, Nathaniel Lowe 10, Chas McCormick 9
SB — Chas McCormick 4, Kyle Tucker 3, Travis Jankowski 2, four tied at 1
BB — Kyle Tucker & Alex Bregman 10, Corey Seager 9, Yordan Alvarez 7, Chas McCormick 5
IP — Framber Valdez 19.0, Cristian Javier 17.0, Jacob deGrom 16.2, Nathan Eovaldi 15.2, Jose Urquidy 15.1
ERA — Phil Maton and three Rangers tied at 0.00, Bryan Abreu 1.35
WHIP — Phil Maton 0.38, Ian Kennedy 0.60, Dane Dunning & Will Smith 0.86, Jonathan Hernández 0.94
K — Jacob deGrom 27, Nathan Eovaldi 19, Framber Valdez 18, Cristian Javier 14, Jose Urquidy 13

Injury report

Astros
Michael Brantley 10-day IL (shoulder)
Lance McCullers Jr. 15-day IL (forearm)
Jose Altuve 10-day IL (thumb)
Parker Mushinski 15-day IL
Drew Gilbert Day-to-Day
Jonathan Sprinkle Out
Matthew Barefoot day-to-day

Rangers
Corey Seager day-to-day (hamstring)
Mitch Garver 10-day (knee)
Josh H. Smith day-to-day (face)
Leody Taveras 10-day (oblique)
Spencer Howard 60-day (lat)
Jake Odorizzi 60-day (shoulder)
Glenn Otto 60-day (lat)
Josh Suborn 15-day (ankle)
Brett Martin 60-day (shoulder)

Gametime & Starting Pitching
Today at 7:10PM CT — Martín Pérez (1-1, 2.53) vs. Luis Garcia (0-1, 7.00)
Saturday at 6:10 CT — Jon Gray (1-1, 3.00) vs. Hunter Brown (1-0, 3.09)
Sunda at 6:10 CT — Andrew Heaney (1-1, 8.22) vs. Framber Valdez (1-1, 1.89)

Who’s hot (five highest WPA last series)
Jose Urquidy (.357)
Chas McCormick (.285)
Kyle Tucker (.243)
Alex Bregman (.170)
Mauricio Dubon (.130)

Who’s not (five lowest WPA last series)
Jake Meyers (-.102)
Jeremy Peña (-.103)
Jose Abreu (-.142)
Cristian Javier (-.181)
Ryan Pressly (-.364)

Common Thread

Rafael Montero pitched 39 times in relief for the Rangers in 2019 and 2020. He stuck out 53 in 46 ²⁄₃ innings, with a 0.986 WHIP and a 3.78 FIP.

Switch-hitting outfielder Robbie Grossman appeared in 190 games for the Astros from 2013 through 2015, hitting .240/.327/.341 with 11 homers and 63 RBI.

Franchise leaderboard check

Alex Bregman will pass Enos Cabell into 13th on Houston’s all-time leaderboard with his next run, his 523rd. Yordan Alvarez needs two to tie Adam Everett in 42nd, with 257. Kyle Tucker will tie Josh Reddick in 50th with two, at 219.

Alex Bregman needs four hits to tie George Springer in 22nd, with 832.

Yordan Alvarez will tie Moises Alou in 41st with his next double, his 93rd. Kyle Tucker will pass Tony Eusebio into a tie for 43rd with his next double, his 88th.

Martin Maldonado needs a pair of homers to tie Enos Cabell and John Bateman in 48th, with 45. Kyle Tucker will tie Marwin Gonzalez in 26th with two homers to give him 79. Yordan Alvarez needs two to tie Ken Caminiti and Hunter Pence in 17th, with 103.

Yordan Alvarez will pass Marwin Gonzalez and Craig Reynolds with two RBI to give him 301 in sole possession of 34th on the leaderboard.

Framber Valdez will break a tie for 30th with Jim Ray if he wins his start, giving him 43. If Luis Garcia wins his start, he’ll have 27, tying him with Chad Qualls in 49th.

Ryan Pressly will tie Chris Devenski in 27th if he appears in one game, his 225th. His next save will be his 77th, moving him past Fred Gladding into fourth overall.

Houston Astros Birthdays

Current Fayetteville Woodpecker Bryan Perez (23) has already pitched 1 ¹⁄₃ innings this season.

Bobby Sprowl (67) pitched in 19 games for the Astros between 1979 and 1981, racking up a 5.08 ERA and a 1.752 WHIP.

Brad Ausmus (54) caught for 18 major league seasons between four teams, mostly the Astros. He played for Houston from 1997 through 1998 and from 2001 through 2008, appearing in 1259 contests and .246/.318/.327 with 41 homers and 386 RBI.

Gregg Zaun (52) played for nine teams and 16 seasons in the majors. In 2002 and 2003, he played 135 times for the Astros, hitting .220/.285/.311 with four homers and 37 RBI.

Kyle Farnsworth (47) also played for nine teams over 16 seasons. In 2014, he made his final major league appearances for Houston, pitching 11 ²⁄₃ innings in 16 games. He struck out eight and allowed a 1.971 WHIP.