Rangers at Astros
As Hurricane Harvey wreaks havoc on their hometown, the Houston Astros will be forced to move their three-game series with the Texas Rangers to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., beginning with the opener Tuesday night. The Astros will be the home team in those games, as well as three more against the New York Mets in the same venue to begin September.
The movement of the six-game homestand means that Houston will end up playing 19 consecutive games away from Minute Maid Park, as they completed a three-game trip Sunday and begin a 10-game trek after taking on the Mets. The one silver lining in an otherwise difficult situation may be the fact that the Astros have thrived away from Houston this year, posting a 42-22 record after a 7-5 victory at the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. Their lead in the American League West is 13 games, while Texas is hanging around in the race for the second wild card in the AL, resting three games behind Minnesota despite being swept in Oakland over the weekend. Houston won six of the first seven meetings between the in-state rivals before the Rangers bounced back to win four of the next six.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Texas), AT&T SportsNet-Southwest (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH Martin Perez (9-10, 5.00 ERA) vs. Astros RH Mike Fiers (8-8, 4.17)
Perez is looking to win 10 games for the second year in a row and third time in his career after claiming his fourth straight victory with a gem in Los Angeles on Thursday. He limited the Angels to seven hits in seven scoreless innings of a 3-0 victory. The 26-year-old was reached for six runs (five earned) in 3 2/3 innings against Houston on June 4 but is 5-4 with a 3.05 ERA in 10 career starts versus the Astros.
Fiers also went seven innings for a win against Washington his last time out, allowing a run and four hits to snap a personal four-game losing streak. That came two turns after an erratic outing at Texas in which the Rangers got to him for six runs in four frames. Mike Napoli (two home runs in nine career at-bats against Fiers) went deep in that one against the Fiers, who has a 3.75 ERA in two career starts at Tropicana Field.
WALK-OFFS
1. Texas was 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position in the Oakland series.
2. Astros RF Josh Reddick is 12-for-23 with six RBIs over his last six games.
3. Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre remains at 461 career home runs, one shy of Jose Canseco and Adam Dunn for 35th place on the all-time list.