San Francisco Giants Visit Houston Astros

The San Francisco Giants come to Houston for a three-game showdown.

Today at 7:10 PM, the Houston Astros will host the San Francisco Giants in the first game of a three-game series.

Houston had got themselves all the way up to 14-11, three games above .500 and tied for first in the American League West before the Philadelphia Phillies came into town. The interlopers gained a measure of revenge by taking two-of-three from our heroes, but the Astros had the last laugh with a 4-3 victory in last night’s contest.

Jose Urquidy earned the victory, going 5 ¹⁄₃ innings and striking out three while allowing two runs on two solo homers before getting pulled in the sixth due to an apparent injury. Jake Meyers went deep for the second time this season, while Kyle Tucker and Martin Maldonado collected a pair of hits each. Ryan Pressly put a bow on it with a perfect ninth, striking out one batter.

The Giants have now lost three-in-a-row, punctuated by yesterday’s 6-4 setback at the hands of the San Diego Padres. San Francisco lost despite standout performances from JD Davis and Mike Yastrzemski, who collected a pair of base hits each.

The last time the Astros played San Francisco was a three-game series from July 30 through August 1, 2021. The Giants won two-of-three, including the finale, 5-3. San Francisco took the win despite Yuli Gurriel going three-for-four with a two-run homer. Luis Garcia (7-6) was tagged with the loss after allowing all five runs in 4 ²⁄₃ innings on eight hits and two walks. He struck out seven.

All-Time Head-to-Head

Houston has won in direct competition with the Giants 48.1 percent of the time, going 352-380 all-time. That’s their 21st-best record against an opponent.

Standings

Houston Astros: 15-13, .536, second in the AL West, sixth in the AL, 13th in MLB. On pace for 87-75, Last 10: WWWWLWWLLW, Playoff Odds: 96.6 percent.

San Francisco Giants: 11-16, .407, fourth in the NL West, 12th in the NL, 23rd in MLB. On pace for 66-96, Last 10: LLWWWWWLLL, Playoff Odds: 6.5 percent.

Team leaders

AVG: Thairo Estrada .346, Mauricio Dubón .302, Mike Yastrzemski .292, J.D. Davis .289, Kyle Tucker .286

OBP: LaMonte Wade .430, Thairo Estrada .393, Kyle Tucker .390, Yordan Alvarez .388, J.D. Davis .355

SLG: Yordan Alvarez .543, J.D. Davis .530, Thairo Estrada & LaMonte Wade .529, Mike Yastrzemski .521

OPS: LaMonte Wade .959, Yordan Alvarez .931, Thairo Estrada .922, J.D. Davis .885, Kyle Tucker .859

HR: Yordan Alvarez, J.D. Davis & Jeremy Peña 6, Blake Sabol, LaMonte Wade, Mike Yastrzemski & Kyle Tucker 5

RBI: Yordan Alvarez 27, Kyle Tucker 20, J.D. Davis 17, Jeremy Peña 16, Mike Yastrzemski 14

BB: Alex Bregman 21, LaMonte Wade 20, Kyle Tucker 18, Yordan Alvarez 13, Michael Conforto 12

SB: Thairo Estrada 8, Jeremy Peña 6, Kyle Tucker 5, Chas McCormick 4, Brandon Crawford 3

ERA: Hunter Brown 2.37, Alex Cobb 2.43, Framber Valdez 2.54, Anthony DeSclafani 2.70, Cristian Javier 3.48

WHIP: Anthony DeSclafani 0.93, Hunter Brown 1.05, Cristian Javier 1.13, Framber Valdez & Logan Webb 1.15

K: Logan Webb 43, Framber Valdez 37, Cristian Javier 35, Alex Cobb 33, Hunter Brown 32

Injury report

Chas McCormick should be back next week. He began a rehab assignment with the Corpus Christi Hooks on Saturday, going 0-for-2 with a walk.

Michael Brantley is nearing his return from the 10-day il.

Lance McCullers Jr. threw 20-30 pitches from the front of the bullpen mound this past Tuesday, according to Brian Murphy of MLB.COM.

Jose Altuve is ahead of schedule, and we should probably expect him in Houston around the first week of June.

Gametime & Starting Pitchers
Today at 7:10 PM CT: Ross Stripling (0-1, 6.89) vs. Luis Garcia (2-2 4.00)
Tuesday, 7:10 PM CT: Anthony DeSclafani (2-1, 2.70) vs. Hunter Brown (3-0, 2.37)
Wednesday, 1:10 PM CT: Logan Webb (1-5, 4.10) vs. Framber Valdez (2-3, 2.54)

Who’s hot (highest WPA vs. Phillies)

Yordan Alvarez .185
Ryan Pressly .127
Rafael Montero .084
Corey Julks .070
Hector Neris .068

Who’s not (lowest WPA vs. Phillies)

Phil Maton (-.122)
Jose Abreu (-.167)
Rylan Bannon (-.178)
Mauricio Dubón (-.217)
Jake Meyers (-.254)

Common Thread

Mauricio Dubón played for San Francisco from 2019 through 2022, hitting .259 with 15 jacks and 58 RBI in 177 games.

Third baseman J.D. Davis started his MLB career with the Astros, hitting .194 in 66 games in 2017 and 2018.

Franchise leaderboard check

Games
22. Alex Bregman & Rusty Staub 833

Runs
41. Moises Alou 265
42. Yordan Alvarez 261

48. Dickie Thon 226
49. Kyle Tucker 222

Hits
21. Roger Metzger 844
22. Alex Bregman 841

Doubles
3. Jose Altuve 379
10. Alex Bregman 211
40. Michael Brantley 98
41. Yordan Alvarez 94

43. Roger Metzger, Steve Finley, Michael Bourn, Kyle Tucker 88

Home Runs
5. Jose Altuve 192
9. Alex Bregman 143

16, Morgan Ensberg 105
17. Yordan Alvarez 104

26. Marvin Gonzalez 79
27. Kyle Tucker 78

49. John Bateman & Enos Cabell 45
50. Martin Maldonado 44

RBI
8. Jose Altuve 696
13. Alex Bregman 502
34. Yordan Alvarez 310

39. Denis Menke 282
40. Kyle Tucker 276

Games Pitched
24. Fred Gladding 233
25. Trever Miller & Ryan Pressly 230

Strikeouts
34. Danny Darwin 543
35. Mark Portugal 535
36. Framber Valdez 534

42. Joe Sambito 421
43. Cristian Javier 413

48. Luis Garcia & Charlie Morton 364

Thanks for reading this series preview. I’ll see a lot of you in the Game Thread. Lets go ‘Stros!