Houston Astros (24-18, second in the AL West) vs. Oakland Athletics (26-17, first in the AL West)
Oakland, California; Wednesday, 9:40 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Zack Greinke (3-1, 4.18 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 40 strikeouts) Athletics: Frankie Montas (5-2, 4.93 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 39 strikeouts)
LINE: Athletics -103, Astros -113; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Oakland and Houston will play on Wednesday.
The Athletics are 3-5 against teams from the AL West. Oakland has hit 56 home runs this season, fifth in the American League. Ramon Laureano leads the team with 10, averaging one every 14.9 at-bats.
The Astros are 19-9 against AL West Division opponents. Houston has slugged .434, good for second in the American League. Yordan Alvarez leads the club with a .596 slugging percentage, including 19 extra-base hits and seven home runs.
The Athletics won the last meeting 6-5. Yusmeiro Petit notched his fifth victory and Laureano went 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBIs for Oakland. Bryan Abreu took his second loss for Houston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Laureano leads the Athletics with 10 home runs and is slugging .510.
Yuli Gurriel leads the Astros with 20 extra base hits and is batting .322.
LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 7-3, .239 batting average, 3.48 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs
Astros: 7-3, .297 batting average, 3.54 ERA, outscored opponents by 21 runs
INJURIES: Athletics: J.B. Wendelken: (left oblique), Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), A.J. Puk: (left biceps), Jesus Luzardo: (left hand), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Mitch Moreland: (rib).
Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Framber Valdez: (finger), Jose Urquidy: (shoulder), Blake Taylor: (ankle), Austin Pruitt: (elbow), Jake Odorizzi: (right pronator muscle), Josh James: (hip), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
