Astros play Oakland, look to build on Greinke's strong performance

Updated May. 20, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

Houston Astros (25-18, second in the AL West) vs. Oakland Athletics (26-18, first in the AL West)

Oakland, California; Thursday, 3:37 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Luis Garcia (1-3, 3.34 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 40 strikeouts) Athletics: Cole Irvin (3-4, 3.02 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 39 strikeouts)

LINE: Athletics +102, Astros -120; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Houston heads into the matchup after a dominant performance by Zack Greinke. Greinke went eight innings, surrendering one run on four hits with eight strikeouts against Oakland.

The Athletics are 3-6 against AL West opponents. Oakland has hit 56 home runs this season, sixth in the MLB. Ramon Laureano leads them with 10, averaging one every 15.2 at-bats.

The Astros have gone 20-9 against division opponents. The Houston pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 3.70, Zack Greinke leads the staff with a mark of 3.77.

The Astros won the last meeting 8-1. Greinke earned his fourth victory and Yuli Gurriel went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs for Houston. Frankie Montas took his third loss for Oakland.

TOP PERFORMERS: Laureano leads the Athletics with 10 home runs and has 20 RBIs.

Gurriel leads the Astros with 36 RBIs and is batting .338.

LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 6-4, .230 batting average, 4.19 ERA, outscored by two runs

Astros: 8-2, .310 batting average, 3.14 ERA, outscored opponents by 32 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).

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

share

in this topic

Yuli Gurriel

Pedro Báez

Frankie Montas

Ramón Laureano

José Urquidy

Jake Odorizzi

Justin Verlander

A.J. Puk

Josh James

Jesús Luzardo

Blake Taylor

Austin Pruitt

Mitch Moreland

Mike Fiers

J.B. Wendelken

Cole Irvin

Zack Greinke

Framber Valdez

Houston Astros

Oakland Athletics