Houston Astros (79-55, first in the AL West) vs. San Diego Padres (71-64, third in the NL West)
San Diego; Saturday, 8:40 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Framber Valdez (9-4, 2.91 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 99 strikeouts) Padres: Joe Musgrove (9-8, 2.91 ERA, .98 WHIP, 169 strikeouts)
LINE: Padres -117, Astros -101; over/under is 7 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: San Diego and Houston will face off on Saturday.
The Padres are 41-30 on their home turf. The San Diego pitching staff averages 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings, Yu Darvish leads them with a mark of 10.7.
The Astros are 38-30 on the road. Houston's lineup has 171 home runs this season, Yordan Alvarez leads the club with 28 homers.
The Astros won the last meeting 6-3. Blake Taylor notched his third victory and Kyle Tucker went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs for Houston. Emilio Pagan registered his first loss for San Diego.
TOP PERFORMERS: Fernando Tatis Jr. leads the Padres with 62 extra base hits and is batting .280.
Alvarez leads the Astros with 55 extra base hits and 89 RBIs.
LAST 10 GAMES: Padres: 3-7, .198 batting average, 4.45 ERA, outscored by 18 runs
Astros: 6-4, .254 batting average, 4.19 ERA, outscored by nine runs
INJURIES: Padres: Trey Wingenter: (elbow), Matt Strahm: (knee), Drew Pomeranz: (forearm), Adrian Morejon: (left forearm), Keone Kela: (right forearm), Javy Guerra: (right elbow), Mike Clevinger: (elbow), Jose Castillo: (undisclosed), Michel Baez: (right elbow), Dan Altavilla: (elbow), Jorge Ona: (right elbow).
Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Zack Greinke: (covid-19), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (shoulder), Taylor Jones: (covid-19), Jason Castro: (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
