The Houston Astros visit the Los Angeles Angels for three games this weekend, starting tonight.
The Houston Astros visit the Los Angeles Angels for three games starting with tonight’s matchup.
This is the second time the Astros and Angels will play a series this season. The first three-game set would see the Angels win twice in three tries, with the Astros winning only the middle game on May 21 by a 6-5 final in 10 innings. Josh Hader (3-3, 4.09) earned the win by striking out four over two perfect innings when Jeremy Peña hit a walkoff RBI-single to score Kyle Tucker. Jake Meyers and Yordan Alvarez joined Peña and Tucker with two hits each, while Tucker (16, 17), Alvarez (9) and Jon Singleton (5) each went deep.
We have really good fans, and they do a good job out there cheering us on. It was a cool moment. It’s still early, so there’s a long way to go. — Tucker, referring to the crowds reaction to his second home run
The Astros are coming off a three-game series win against the St. Louis Cardinals at MMP, taking the first two before dropping the final game. In Houston’s last win, on Tuesday night, Spencer Arrighetti left early with a (hopefully minor) injury before Tayler Scott (2-2, 1.82) earned the win. Ryan Pressly notched his first save of the season with a perfect ninth inning. Yainer Diaz (5) went deep for the second game in a row, while Peña, Jose Altuve, and Alvarez collected a pair of base-hits each.
That’s the kind of style of baseball that I know that we’re capable of playing. — Joe Espada
Meanwhile, the Angels just concluded a three-game series sweep of the once-again underperforming San Diego Padres. In the final game of the set, a 3-2 LA victory, Jose Soriano (3-5, 3.64) got the win with a quality start, keeping the Friars to one earned run on six hits. Logan O’Hoppe and Zach Neto led the Halos with two hits apiece Neto (7), and Nolan Schanuel (6) each went deep in the victory.
It doesn’t matter how young our team is. We have the right guys in this locker room to go out there every day and show what we got. But it gives us a lot of confidence and hopefully gives our fans confidence we can win at home. — Neto
GameTimes and Starting Pitchers
Friday, 8:38 PM, CT: Framber Valdez (4-3, 3.95) vs. Griffin Canning (2-5, 4.69)
Saturday, 9:07 PM, CT: Hunter Brown (1-5, 6.18) vs. Tyler Anderson (5-5, 2.37)
Sunday, 3:07 PM, CT: Justin Verlander (3-2, 3.63) vs. Patrick Sandoval (2-8, 5.00)
In all-time matchups, Houston has a .601 winning percentage against the Halos, their best against anyone at 122-81.
Heroes and Zeroes (five highest and lowest WPA vs. the Cardinals)
Alex Bregman 28.4
Yainer Diaz 27.5
Yordan Alvarez 18.5
Jeremy Peña 16.0
Trey Cabbage 9.9
Chas McCormick -8.6
Jon Singleton -11.1
Jose Abreu -18.4
Ronel Blanco -18.4
Justin Verlander -19.6