Houston faces Toronto, aims to build on Urquidy's solid outing

Updated May. 8, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

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Toronto Blue Jays (16-15, third in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (17-15, third in the AL West)

Houston; Saturday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: Steven Matz (4-2, 4.78 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 33 strikeouts) Astros: Cristian Javier (3-0, 1.75 ERA, .90 WHIP, 30 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -143, Blue Jays +125; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Houston heads into the matchup after a strong showing by Jose Urquidy. Urquidy pitched seven innings, surrendering two runs on four hits with two strikeouts against Toronto.

The Astros are 8-7 on their home turf. Houston has a team on-base percentage of .319, good for third in the American League. Yuli Gurriel leads the team with a mark of .420.

The Blue Jays have gone 9-11 away from home. The Toronto pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 3.79. Hyun Jin Ryu leads the team with a 3.31 earned run average.

The Astros won the last meeting 10-4. Jose Urquidy notched his third victory and Gurriel went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs for Houston. Ross Stripling registered his second loss for Toronto.

TOP PERFORMERS: Gurriel leads the Astros with 14 extra base hits and is batting .342.

Bo Bichette leads the Blue Jays with eight home runs home runs and is slugging .508.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 6-4, .256 batting average, 3.31 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs

Blue Jays: 6-4, .267 batting average, 5.32 ERA, outscored opponents by 13 runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Framber Valdez: (finger), Blake Taylor: (ankle), Austin Pruitt: (elbow), Enoli Paredes: (right side), Jake Odorizzi: (right pronator muscle), Josh James: (hip), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder).

Blue Jays: Kirby Yates: (tommy john surgery), David Phelps: (right lat), Patrick Murphy: (shoulder), Tommy Milone: (undisclosed), Julian Merryweather: (left oblique), Tom Hatch: (elbow), Anthony Castro: (forearm), George Springer: (quad), Joe Panik: (calf), Alejandro Kirk: (left hip flexor).

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

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Framber Valdez

Julian Merryweather

Hyun Jin Ryu

Ross Stripling

Bo Bichette

Kirby Yates

Yuli Gurriel

Anthony Castro

Blake Taylor

Jake Odorizzi

Joe Panik

Josh James

Cristian Javier

José Urquidy

Alejandro Kirk

Enoli Paredes

Patrick Murphy

Austin Pruitt

Pedro Báez

George Springer

Justin Verlander

Houston Astros

Toronto Blue Jays