Oakland Athletics (86-74, third in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (93-67, first in the AL West)
Houston; Saturday, 7:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Athletics: Paul Blackburn (1-3, 4.71 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 24 strikeouts) Astros: Jake Odorizzi (6-7, 4.14 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 88 strikeouts)
LINE: Astros -156, Athletics +135; over/under is 9 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Oakland will play on Saturday.
The Astros are 49-30 in home games in 2020. The Houston pitching staff averages 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings, Lance McCullers Jr. leads them with a mark of 10.3.
The Athletics are 43-36 on the road. The Oakland offense has compiled a .237 batting average as a team this season, Starling Marte leads the team with a mark of .302.
The Athletics won the last meeting 8-6. Sean Manaea earned his 11th victory and Chad Pinder went 1-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs for Oakland. Framber Valdez registered his sixth loss for Houston.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros with 32 home runs and is slugging .526.
Matt Olson leads the Athletics with 151 hits and is batting .272.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 4-6, .207 batting average, 4.92 ERA, outscored by 13 runs
Athletics: 4-6, .216 batting average, 4.55 ERA, outscored by four runs
INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Zack Greinke: (neck), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (shoulder), Freudis Nova: (knee), Taylor Jones: (covid-19).
Athletics: Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), Daulton Jefferies: (elbow), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Stephen Piscotty: (wrist), Vimael Machin: (illness), Jed Lowrie: (hand), Elvis Andrus: (leg), Mitch Moreland: (wrist).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
