Rangers at Astros
The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are plenty familiar with each other as they prepare for their third series of the season - a three-game set beginning Friday at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The first-place Astros and the cellar-dwelling Rangers sit nine games apart in the American League West Division, but have split their first six meetings of 2018.
Houston (24-15) is coming off a 4-2 road trip, capped by a three-game sweep of Oakland, while Texas (15-24) defeated Detroit 5-4 in 10 innings Wednesday on Nomar Mazara's first career walk-off hit - his seventh home run in the last nine games - for its second victory in six contests. Pitching has been the biggest difference as the Astros lead the majors with a 2.60 ERA while Texas is among the worst at 4.93. Justin Verlander is coming off his first loss in 13 regular-season starts with Houston and opposes Cole Hamels, who like Verlander has faced the opposition twice already this season. Charlie Morton was scheduled to start for the Astros on Friday, but was moved back to Saturday as Houston manager A.J. Hinch told reporters: "The reason we're doing it is we have a number of off-days over the next couple of weeks, and we're trying not to disrupt too many regular starts for J.V. He's a very routine-based guy, and we want him to continue that on."
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Texas), AT&T SportsNet-Southwest (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers LH Cole Hamels (1-4, 3.94 ERA) vs. Astros RH Justin Verlander (4-1, 1.17)
Hamels received his second straight no-decision after allowing three runs (two earned), five hits and two walks while striking out five in six innings of Texas' 6-5 loss to Boston on Saturday. The 34-year-old California native's only victory this season came in his second start, when he struck out a season-high 11 versus Oakland, but is 0-3 with a 4.11 ERA in six starts since. George Springer is 4-for-20 with three home runs versus Hamels, who is 7-5 with a 4.16 ERA in 18 starts against Houston - 0-1, 3.86 in two turns this season - and 4-2, 4.09 in eight outings at Minute Maid Park.
Verlander yielded two runs (one earned), three hits and three walks while striking out eight in six innings of a 3-1 loss at Arizona on Sunday. The 35-year-old Virginian is 9-1 with a 1.13 ERA in 13 regular-season starts since being acquired from Detroit last July, allowing 44 hits and 16 walks with 113 strikeouts over 87 2/3 innings. Shin-Soo Choo is batting .183 with 32 strikeouts in 71 at-bats versus Verlander, who is 12-6 with a 2.78 ERA in 12 starts versus Texas - 1-0, 0.64 in two turns this season.
WALK-OFFS
1. Astros 2B and reigning AL MVP Jose Altuve (.331) is 12-for-26 with three walks and six runs scored versus Texas this season.
2. Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre is 4-for-6 with four RBIs in two games since missing 12 with a hamstring injury and is 30th all-time with 1,654 RBIs.
3. Houston 1B Yuli Gurriel is 16-for-45 with seven RBIs and five runs scored during a career high-tying 11-game hitting streak.