McCullers Jr. expected to start for Houston against Oakland
Oakland Athletics (22-10, first in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (17-14, second in the AL West)
Houston; Saturday, 4:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Oakland: Frankie Montas (2-2, 5.22 ERA) Houston: Lance McCullers Jr. (2-2, 5.75 ERA)
BOTTOM LINE: The Oakland Athletics head to play the Houston Astros on Saturday.
The Astros are 10-6 against opponents from the AL West. The Houston offense has compiled a .244 batting average as a team this season, Yuli Gurriel leads the team with a mark of .296.
The Athletics have gone 17-6 against division opponents. The Oakland pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.35, Mike Fiers leads the staff with a mark of 4.87.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Tucker leads the Astros with five home runs and is slugging .551.
Matt Chapman leads the Athletics with 20 extra base hits and is batting .240.
INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (forearm), Austin Pruitt: (elbow), Brad Peacock: (undisclosed), Roberto Osuna: (right elbow), Josh James: (hip), Chris Devenski: (elbow), Rogelio Armenteros: (undisclosed), Yordan Alvarez: (knee), Aledmys Diaz: (groin), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).
Athletics: Burch Smith: (right forearm), A.J. Puk: (shoulder).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.