Astros at Phillies
While Jose Altuve's career-high 17-game hitting streak is receiving plenty of attention, teammate Marwin Gonzalez is enjoying an impressive run in his own right with hits in eight straight and 23 of his last 26 contests. Altuve and Gonzalez look to add to their individual streaks on Wednesday as the American League-best Houston Astros aim to remain perfect in interleague play heading into the finale of a three-game series versus the host Philadelphia Phillies.
Gonzalez highlighted his fourth multi-hit performance in five contests with an RBI single in Tuesday's 5-0 triumph for the high-octane Astros, who have amassed 18 runs and 25 hits in the series and 150 runs in 19 games this month. Altuve, who is a staggering 39-for-79 this month, followed up a pair of four-hit performances with just one double on Tuesday to actually drop his majors-best batting average one point to .364. Both stars will get their first look at Aaron Nola in the series finale, with the right-hander enjoying an impressive roll despite the majors-worst Phillies' considerable troubles. Cameron Rupp had a pair of doubles to hit safely for the eighth time in 10 games, but he'll get his first look at veteran right-hander Mike Fiers.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Southwest (Houston), CSN Philadelphia
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Mike Fiers (7-4, 3.59 ERA) vs. Phillies RH Aaron Nola (7-6, 3.38)
Fiers has answered a three-game winless skid by improving to 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in his last two starts. The 32-year-old capped his second straight seven-inning performance by allowing one run on six hits while striking out nine in Friday's 8-7 victory at Baltimore. Fiers owns an 8-1 mark in his last 13 road starts dating back to last season.
Nola improved to 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA in his last six outings on Friday after permitting one run on five hits in seven innings of a 6-1 triumph over Milwaukee. The 24-year-old fanned nine in that contest for the third time in five trips to the mound and has struck out 50 in his last 42 1/3 innings pitched. "Nola was outstanding," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin told reporters. "He's been working on that changeup all year and it's really one of his better pitches. He used all of his pitches, he spotted his fastball in and out and changed speeds extremely well."
WALK-OFFS
1. Philadelphia 3B Maikel Franco is 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts in his last four games.
2. The Astros are 9-0 in interleague play this season while the Phillies are just 3-10.
3. Houston's road win total (37) eclipses the overall victory total of Philadelphia (34) this season.