Texas Rangers (49-61, third in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (71-41, first in the AL West)
Houston; Thursday, 2:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Rangers: Cole Ragans (0-0, .00 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, three strikeouts); Astros: Framber Valdez (10-4, 2.87 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 120 strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -319, Rangers +255; over/under is 8 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers meet on Thursday with the three-game series tied 1-1.
Houston is 35-18 at home and 71-41 overall. The Astros rank third in the majors with 154 total home runs, averaging 1.4 per game.
Texas has a 26-30 record in road games and a 49-61 record overall. Rangers hitters have a collective .397 slugging percentage to rank sixth in the AL.
Thursday's game is the 14th meeting between these teams this season. The Astros are up 9-4 in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros with 48 extra base hits (15 doubles, two triples and 31 home runs). Trey Mancini is 5-for-19 with three home runs and seven RBI over the last 10 games.
Marcus Semien has 18 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs and 54 RBI while hitting .239 for the Rangers. Nate Lowe is 13-for-38 with two doubles and a home run over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .236 batting average, 2.80 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
Rangers: 4-6, .233 batting average, 4.10 ERA, outscored by seven runs
INJURIES: Astros: Jason Castro: 60-Day IL (knee), Blake Taylor: 60-Day IL (elbow), Michael Brantley: 10-Day IL (shoulder), Josh James: 60-Day IL (lat), Lance McCullers Jr.: 60-Day IL (forearm)
Rangers: Spencer Howard: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Dennis Santana: 15-Day IL (ankle), Kole Calhoun: 10-Day IL (heel), Jon Gray: 15-Day IL (side), Joe Barlow: 15-Day IL (blister), Mitch Garver: 60-Day IL (forearm), Eli White: 60-Day IL (wrist)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
