Valdez expected to start for Houston against Texas

Texas Rangers (35-63, fifth in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (59-39, first in the AL West)

Houston; Saturday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rangers: Kyle Gibson (6-2, 2.86 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 90 strikeouts) Astros: Framber Valdez (5-2, 3.26 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 56 strikeouts)

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -205, Rangers +172; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Texas Rangers travel to play the Houston Astros on Saturday.

The Astros are 32-20 on their home turf. Houston is slugging .435 as a unit. Kyle Tucker leads the club with a .522 slugging percentage, including 41 extra-base hits and 18 home runs.

The Rangers are 13-38 on the road. Texas has a team on-base percentage of .295, led by Joey Gallo with a mark of .379.

The Astros won the last meeting 7-3. Brandon Bielak recorded his third victory and Tucker went 1-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs for Houston. Kolby Allard took his eighth loss for Texas.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Altuve leads the Astros with 23 home runs and has 60 RBIs.

Adolis Garcia leads the Rangers with 34 extra base hits and is batting .259.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .207 batting average, 4.09 ERA, outscored by one run

Rangers: 0-10, .161 batting average, 7.88 ERA, outscored by 55 runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Brooks Raley: (health and safety protocols), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Josh James: (hip), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder), Aledmys Diaz: (hand), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).

Rangers: Hunter Wood: (elbow), Jose Leclerc: (elbow), John King: (shoulder), Jonathan Hernandez: (elbow), Kyle Cody: (right shoulder), Matt Bush: (elbow), Kohei Arihara: (finger), Willie Calhoun: (forearm), Ronald Guzman: (knee).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.