Houston hosts the resurgent Kansas City Royals for a four-game set at Minute Maid Park.
The Houston Astros will play the Kansas City Royals four times at MMP starting tonight.
Houston and Kansas City have met each other 97 times in regular season play, with the Astros holding a 51-46 edge. Despite Houston’s overall winning record, the Royals have won the last six meetings. The common postseason history of the two consists of the 2015 ALDS, which Kansas City won three-games-to-two.
The last time these two met was from April 9 through April 11, in which Houston lost all three contests. Last season, Kansas City won five-of-six. The only win for the Astros came on September 17, when Framber Valdez (12-10, 3.20) earned the win by going seven innings and allowing only an unearned run on six hits and a walk. He struck out five. Jake Meyers (10) and Yordan Alvarez (28) went deep in the win, while Chas McCormick and Jose Altuve collected three hits each. The other five players in the lineup went 0-for-24 in the 7-1 victory.
It was nice to come out there and show some energy and put up a good game. I thought we hit pretty well, put up good at-bats. Framber pitched amazing, and the bullpen came in and did the job. I’m just happy with how we played today. — Chas McCormick
In recent action, Houston has struggled, losing twice in each of their past three series (Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles (four game split) and the Philadelphia Phillies). In Houston’s six-game road trip finale yesterday afternoon, Spencer Arrighetti took a no-hitter into the eighth inning, Yordan Alvarez hit three home runs, and Jose Altuve stole home in a 10-0 getaway win over the Phillies.
He comes one day and gets one hit and shows up the next game and hits three homers. I always say he’s, for me, the best hitter in the big leagues. I know we have pretty good hitters, but he’s up there with the best and he’s on another level. — Altuve, on Alvarez
In the meantime, Kansas City closed out their four-game series against the Cleveland Guardians with a 7-5 loss in yesterday’s matinee, after taking the first three. Vinnie Pasquantino had four hits in a losing effort, while Lucas Erceg (2-4, 2.88) took the loss in relief.
When you get the first three, you want to win the fourth. It’s disappointing today, but by no means should that put a damper on what these guys accomplished. — Matt Quatraro
Standings
Houston Astros: 71-62, .534, first in the AL West by 3 1⁄2 games over the Seattle Mariners. Sixth in the American League, one game behind the Minnesota Twins. Twelfth in MLB, two games behind the Atlanta Braves. Last 10: WLLWLLWLLW. On pace for 87-75. Fangraphs projects 87-75, with an 88 percent chance at reaching the playoffs.
Kansas City Royals: 75-59, .560, second in the AL Central, one game behind the Cleveland Guardians. Fourth in the American League, 2 1⁄2 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins. Ninth in MLB, 1⁄2 game behind the San Diego Padres. Last 10: WLWWLLWWWL. On pace for 91-71. Fangraphs projects 89-73 with an 88.3 percent chance of playing postseason baseball.
Houston’s last ten is win one and lose two, which isn’t a very good pattern. If you look at KC’s recent pattern, it was win one, lose one, win two, lose two, win three…..then they lost yesterday. Using recency bias, you can project a series split between the two. Even though I’m rolling with that and projecting a split, I’ll take Brown over Singer and Valdez over Lugo, with Ragans likely holding the edge over Kikuchi and the dreaded TBD over Blanco.
Altuve has 158 hits in 129 games this season — 1.22 hits per game. He needs 42 hits in Houston’s final 29 to reach 200 hits (1.45 hits per game) for the fifth time in his career, and the first time since 2017.
After Alvarez went deep three times yesterday, he sits at 28 home runs — two away from topping 30 for the fourth consecutive season. Unfortunately, he’s never reached 40, but that could change if he plays September like he played in Houston’s 10-0 win.
If birthday boy Hunter Brown (26) wins today’s matchup, it will mark a career-best 12 victories, topping last season’s 11.
Framber Valdez’ past four seasons H/9, including this season: 7.4, 7.4, 7.5, 7.5. He’s also pitched to a minimum ERA+ of 122 in every season starting in 2020.
Ben Gamel is 10-for-23 since joining the Astros, raising his career OPS from .715 to .718.
Gametimes and Starting Pitchers
Thursday, 7:10 PM CT: Brady Singer (9-9, 3.38) vs. Hunter Brown (11-7, 3.72)
Friday, 7:10 PM CT: Seth Lugo (14-8, 3.19) vs. Framber Valdez (13-6, 3.27)
Saturday, 6:10 PM CT: Cole Ragans (10-8, 3.28) vs. Yusei Kikuchi (6-9, 4.39)
Sunday, 1:10 PM CT: TBD vs. Ronel Blanco (9-6, 3.14)