Tampa Bay Rays (97-60, first in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (92-65, first in the AL West)
Houston; Wednesday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Drew Rasmussen (3-1, 3.04 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 71 strikeouts) Astros: Luis Garcia (11-7, 3.17 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 161 strikeouts)
LINE: Astros -125, Rays +105; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Tampa Bay will face off on Wednesday.
The Astros are 48-28 on their home turf. Houston hitters have posted a team on-base percentage of .336 this season, led by Yuli Gurriel with a mark of .381.
The Rays are 45-31 in road games. The Tampa Bay offense has compiled a .241 batting average as a team this season, Randy Arozarena leads the team with a mark of .272.
The Astros won the last meeting 4-3. Phil Maton notched his fifth victory and Alex Bregman went 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI for Houston. Josh Fleming registered his seventh loss for Tampa Bay.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros with 101 RBIs and is batting .278.
Brandon Lowe leads the Rays with 64 extra base hits and is slugging .496.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .240 batting average, 4.57 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs
Rays: 6-4, .256 batting average, 2.79 ERA, outscored opponents by 18 runs
INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Zack Greinke: (neck), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (shoulder), Michael Brantley: (knee), Freudis Nova: (knee), Taylor Jones: (covid-19).
Rays: Matt Wisler: (finger), Ryan Thompson: (shoulder), Jeffrey Springs: (knee), Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Cody Reed: (thumb), Colin Poche: (elbow), DJ Johnson: (shoulder), Tyler Glasnow: (elbow), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Adam Conley: (covid-19), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (hip), Nick Anderson: (back).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
