Houston Astros Visit Atlanta Braves — Series Preview

Tonight at 6:20 PM CT, the Atlanta Braves will host the Houston Astros at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA.

The Astros just completed a 3-3 homestead, which itself followed a 3-3 road trip. In fact, Houston has alternated wins and losses for the past nine contests, with the Astros securing an 8-1 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

In that victory, Luis Garcia started and struck out nine in seven frames, allowing one hit and two walks for a career-best 81 GameScore. Mauricio Dubón extended his career-best 14-game winning streak, Jeremy Peña hit a three-run eighth-inning homer, and Bryan Abreu got out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the top of the eighth.

The Atlanta Braves have started their season 6-5. After that, they swept the Cincinnati Reds at home before winning the first five games of their six-game road-set. In the road-set finale, the dropped a 1-0 decision to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night. Charlie Morton took the loss despite holding the Padres to one run on five hits over six innings. Nick Martinez won after pitching seven shutout innings for San Diego, and Juan Soto drove in the only run of the game with a four-inning solo shot.

The last time Atlanta played against Houston was from August 19 through 21. Atlanta won the first two before Houston salvaged the final game of the road series with a 5-4 victory. Dubon, Yuli Gurriel, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker collected a pair of hits each, and Jose Urquidy won his 12th decision of the year with a seven-inning, six strikeout performance. He allowed two runs on five hits and two walks.

All Time Head to Head

Houston has an all-time 327-383 regular season record against Atlanta, a .461 winning percentage. They’ve also faced off 25 times in postseason play, with Houston winning only nine of them. Houston lost to Atlanta in the 1997, 1999, and 2001 NLDS, defeated them in the 2004 and 2005 NLDS, and lost to them in the 2021 World Series.

Standings

Houston Astros: 9-10, .474, 3.5 GB, 2.0 WCGB, tied for second in the AL West, tied for ninth in the AL, tied for 16th in the MLB, Last 10: WWLWLWLWLW, Playoff Odds: 93.7 percent

Atlanta Braves: 14-5, .737, first in the NL East, first in the NL, second in MLB, Last 10: LWWWWWWWWL, Playoff Odds: 98.8 percent

Team Leaders

AVG: Sam Hilliard .375, Ronald Acuña Jr. .367, Orlando Arcia .333, Mauricio Dubon .323, Kyle Tucker .313
OBP: Sam Hilliard .474, Ronald Acuña Jr. .451, Kyle Tucker .438, Sean Murphy .420, Orlando Arcia .400
SLG: Matt Olson .613, Sean Murphy .611, Sam Hilliard .563, Kyle Tucker .547, Yordan Alvarez .508
OPS: Sam Hilliard 1.037, Sean Murphy 1.031, Matt Olson .999, Ronald Acuña .995, Kyle Tucker .985
HR: Matt Olson 6, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy, Austin Riley, Yordan Alvarez, & Kyle Tucker 4
RBI: Yordan Alvarez 21, Matt Olson 20, Kyle Tucker 15, Ozzie Albies & Sean Murphy 14
BB: Kyle Tucker 15, Sean Murphy 14, Matt Olson & Alex Bregman 13, Ronald Acuña, Yordan Alvarez & Austin Riley 11
SB: Ronald Acuña 8, Jeremy Peña 5, Chas McCormick & Kyle Tucker 4, Sam Hilliard 3
ERA: Framber Valdez 1.80, Spencer Strider 2.45, Charlie Morton 3.22, Jose Urquidy 3.66, Cristian Javier 3.68
WHIP: Spencer Strider 1.05, Cristian Javier 1.14, Framber Valdez 1.16, Luis Garcia 1.38, Jose Urquidy 1.53
SO: Spencer Strider 36, Framber Valdez 25, Luis Garcia 24, Cristian Javier 19, Hunter Brown, Jose Urquidy, Bryce Elder & Charlie Morton 17

Gametime & Starting Pitchers

Today, 6:20 PM: Hunter Brown (2-0, 1.93) vs. Bryce Elder (2-0, 1.53)
Saturday, 6:20 PM: Framber Valdez (1-2, 1.80) vs. Kyle Wright (0-0, 6.23)
Sunday, 12:30 PM: Cristian Javier (2-0, 3.68) vs. Max Fried (1-0, 1.08)

Who’s hot
Bryan Abreu (.540)
Luis Garcia (.391)
Jake Meyers (.244)
Jose Abreu (.224)
Cristian Javier (.077)

Who’s not
Mauricio Dubon (-.065)
Alex Bregman (-.073)
Martin Maldonado (-.083)
Jose Urquidy (-.208)
Rafael Montero (-.492)

Common Thread

Collin McHugh spent six seasons with the Astros, playing from 2014 through 2019. He was 58-35 with a 3.63 ERA, 743 K’s in 753 ¹⁄₃ innings, and a 1.219 WHIP.

Charlie Morton spent two seasons in Houston’s rotation, going 29-10 with a 3.36 ERA, 364 K’s in 313 ²⁄₃ innings, and a 1.176 WHIP.