Toronto Blue Jays (16-14, third in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (16-15, third in the AL West)
Houston; Friday, 8:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Blue Jays: Ross Stripling (0-1, 6.40 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 14 strikeouts) Astros: Jose Urquidy (2-2, 3.71 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 27 strikeouts)
LINE: Astros -139, Blue Jays +121; over/under is 9 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Bo Bichette and the Blue Jays will take on the Astros Friday.
The Astros are 7-7 on their home turf. The Houston offense has compiled a .254 batting average as a team this season, good for third in the American League. Yordan Alvarez leads the team with an average of .337.
The Blue Jays are 9-10 on the road. The Toronto pitching staff as a whole has an ERA of 3.56. Hyun Jin Ryu leads the team with a 3.31 earned run average.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yuli Gurriel leads the Astros with 20 RBIs and is batting .318.
Marcus Semien leads the Blue Jays with seven home runs home runs and is slugging .458.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 6-4, .254 batting average, 3.10 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
Blue Jays: 7-3, .266 batting average, 4.25 ERA, outscored opponents by 20 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), 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.
