Stripling expected to start for Toronto against Houston
Houston Astros (32-25, second in the AL West) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (29-26, fourth in the AL East)
Buffalo, New York; Saturday, 3:07 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Jose Urquidy (4-2, 3.02 ERA, .99 WHIP, 42 strikeouts) Blue Jays: Ross Stripling (1-3, 5.11 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 39 strikeouts)
LINE: Blue Jays -106, Astros -110; over/under is 9 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Toronto and Houston will face off on Saturday.
The Blue Jays are 12-12 in home games in 2020. Toronto ranks second in the MLB in hitting with a .258 batting average, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the club with an average of .330.
The Astros are 12-12 on the road. The Houston pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 3.70, Zack Greinke leads the staff with a mark of 3.38.
The Astros won the last meeting 13-1. Greinke earned his sixth victory and Carlos Correa went 2-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs for Houston. Hyun Jin Ryu took his third loss for Toronto.
TOP PERFORMERS: Marcus Semien leads the Blue Jays with 65 hits and has 32 RBIs.
Kyle Tucker leads the Astros with 11 home runs and is batting .251.
LAST 10 GAMES: Blue Jays: 6-4, .288 batting average, 4.18 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs
Astros: 6-4, .249 batting average, 3.51 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs
INJURIES: Blue Jays: Kirby Yates: (tommy john surgery), David Phelps: (right lat), Patrick Murphy: (shoulder), Tommy Milone: (shoulder), Julian Merryweather: (left oblique), Tom Hatch: (elbow), A.J. Cole: (neck), Ryan Borucki: (forearm), Travis Bergen: (shoulder), George Springer: (quad), Cavan Biggio: (spine), Alejandro Kirk: (left hip flexor).
Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Austin Pruitt: (elbow), Lance McCullers Jr.: (shoulder), Josh James: (hip), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder), Bryan Abreu: (calf), Michael Brantley: (hamstring), Jason Castro: (achilles).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.