Houston visits Tampa Bay, looks to build on Urquidy's solid outing

Updated May. 2, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

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Houston Astros (15-12, second in the AL West) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (13-15, fifth in the AL East)

St. Petersburg, Florida; Sunday, 1:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Cristian Javier (3-0, .87 ERA, .82 WHIP, 26 strikeouts) Rays: Rich Hill (1-1, 7.25 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 24 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: Houston heads into the matchup fresh off a strong showing by Jose Urquidy. Urquidy pitched seven innings, surrendering zero runs on four hits with five strikeouts against Tampa Bay.

The Rays are 6-10 on their home turf. Tampa Bay has a team on-base percentage of .302, led by Yandy Diaz with a mark of .375.

The Astros have gone 8-5 away from home. The Houston pitching staff owns a combined team ERA of 3.65, Jose Urquidy leads the staff with a mark of 3.71.

The Astros won the last meeting 3-1. Urquidy earned his second victory and Yuli Gurriel went 1-for-4 with two RBIs for Houston. Josh Fleming registered his third loss for Tampa Bay.

TOP PERFORMERS: Austin Meadows leads the Rays with four home runs and is batting .211.

Kyle Tucker leads the Astros with five home runs and has 15 RBIs.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rays: 3-7, .206 batting average, 3.81 ERA, outscored by 10 runs

Astros: 8-2, .271 batting average, 2.08 ERA, outscored opponents by 34 runs

INJURIES: Rays: Chaz Roe: (shoulder), Colin Poche: (elbow), Collin McHugh: (lower back), Chris Mazza: (right shoulder), Pete Fairbanks: (shoulder), Oliver Drake: (forearm), Yonny Chirinos: (elbow), Jalen Beeks: (elbow), Chris Archer: (forearm), Nick Anderson: (elbow), Ji-Man Choi: (knee).

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).

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

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Pedro Báez

Collin McHugh

Chaz Roe

Colin Poche

Pete Fairbanks

Chris Mazza

Oliver Drake

Rich Hill

Josh Fleming

José Urquidy

Yuli Gurriel

Josh James

Enoli Paredes

Jake Odorizzi

Jalen Beeks

Yonny Chirinos

Yandy Díaz

Austin Meadows

Austin Pruitt

Nick Anderson

Framber Valdez

Cristian Javier

Justin Verlander

Blake Taylor

Ji Man Choi

Tampa Bay Rays

Houston Astros