Houston hosts Cleveland after Cole's strong performance

Cleveland Indians (14-10, second in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (15-10, second in the AL West)

Houston; Friday, 8 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Indians: Corey Kluber (2-2, 5.89 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 29 strikeouts) Astros: Collin McHugh (2-2, 4.79 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 28 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Astros are 8-2 in home games. Houston has slugged .487, good for the best mark in the American League. George Springer leads the club with a .576 slugging percentage, including 13 extra-base hits and eight home runs.

The Indians are 7-6 in road games. Cleveland has slugged .326, last in in the MLB. Leonys Martin leads the club with a .442 slugging percentage, including eight extra-base hits and four home runs. The Indians won the last meeting 2-1. Trevor Bauer recorded his third victory and Jake Bauers went 1-for-2 with a home run and an RBI for Cleveland. Gerrit Cole registered his fourth loss for Houston.

TOP PERFORMERS: Springer leads the Astros with 21 RBIs and is batting .283. Carlos Correa is 9-for-40 with four doubles, three home runs and six RBIs over the last 10 games for Houston.

Carlos Santana leads the Indians with 13 RBIs and is batting .338. Bauers is 9-for-32 with a double, two home runs and seven RBIs over the last 10 games for Cleveland.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .267 batting average, 4.14 ERA, outscored opponents by 14 runs

Indians: 6-4, .242 batting average, 4.25 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs

Astros Injuries: Joe Smith: 10-day IL (achilles), Lance McCullers Jr.: 10-day IL (elbow).

Indians Injuries: Danny Salazar: 60-day IL (shoulder), Mike Clevinger: 60-day IL (back), Carlos Carrasco: day-to-day (knee), Bradley Zimmer: 10-day IL (shoulder).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by HERO Sports, and data from Sportradar.