Oakland Athletics (41-71, fifth in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (72-41, first in the AL West)
Houston; Friday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Athletics: Adam Oller (1-5, 7.63 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, 29 strikeouts); Astros: Luis Garcia (8-8, 3.93 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 117 strikeouts)
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -343, Athletics +271; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Oakland Athletics look to stop their five-game slide with a victory over the Houston Astros.
Houston has a 36-18 record at home and a 72-41 record overall. Astros hitters are batting a collective .241, which ranks eighth in the AL.
Oakland has a 24-32 record on the road and a 41-71 record overall. The Athletics are 9-19 in games decided by one run.
Friday's game is the 13th time these teams meet this season. The season series is tied 6-6.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads Houston with 31 home runs while slugging .633. Trey Mancini is 5-for-23 with three home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.
Elvis Andrus has 23 doubles, seven home runs and 28 RBI for the Athletics. Seth Brown is 9-for-28 with a double and three home runs over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .249 batting average, 2.93 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs
Athletics: 2-8, .211 batting average, 3.80 ERA, outscored by 15 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)
Athletics: Paul Blackburn: 15-Day IL (finger), Daulton Jefferies: 60-Day IL (arm), Deolis Guerra: 60-Day IL (elbow), Brent Honeywell Jr.: 60-Day IL (elbow)
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
