SERIES PREVIEW

Angels @ Astros

June 20-22, 2016

Things that have happened since the last series preview was posted:

• The fucking Rangers wasted no time in messing up my prediction that the Astros would not lose another series to them this year, and now they are running away with the goddamn league.
• The Astros are still in the thick of things for a postseason berth… along with eleven other teams.
• Will Harris’s ERA nearly doubled in one day.  Nobody cared.
• Dallas Keuchel still looks like he needs to be turned off and back on.
• Viewers got an extended reprieve from Alan Ashby in the TV booth and the results were predictably enjoyable.  Never in however many years of seeing Kevin Eschenfelder on TV have I ever thought that he should get a shot at the PBP job, but after his solid work in Arlington, hell, why not?

I honestly haven’t been able to see much of the Astros the last couple weeks.  Having two small children and a stir crazy wife makes for some busy summer weekends, and a couple of projects at work have hampered my ability to write previews.  Yes, kids, if you play your cards right, you can grow up to work at a job that doesn’t care if you spend two mornings a week writing about baseball on company time.

Not going to lie, either: the four-game series in Arlington took some wind out of my sails and, truly for the first time this year, caused me to temper my postseason expectations.  The West still seemed winnable on June 6; now, not so much.  At this point I’ll be happy with the team playing .500 ball at the break.

Monday, June 20 – 7:10pm CDT
Jhoulys Chacin (3-4, 5.00) vs. Doug Fister (7-3, 3.26)

Jhoulys Chacin breaks autocorrect more than Kim Kardashian breaks the Internet, and with less butt cleavage.  Chacin was acquired from the Bad News Braves in early May but did not face the Astros when they traveled to Anaheim at the end of the month.  In fact, Chacin tossed a complete game against the Tigers the day after the Astros series concluded, but he has struggled in the three starts since, unable to make it past the 6th inning.  Aside from a good showing against a scrubtastic 2013 Astros team, Chacin has no sizeable experience against Houston.

None of the Astros pitchers in this series have faced the Angels yet this year.  Fister is the first of those and continues to be pretty damn good, and rehashing that fact gets old after a while so I’ll try not to.  He has not faced the Angels since 2013 but he has faced their hitters quite a bit: in 114 AB against Fister, Angels hitters are .219/.282/.325 with just eight extra base hits against him.

Tuesday, June 21 – 7:10pm CDT
Hector Santiago (4-4, 5.30) vs. Collin McHugh (5-5, 4.89)

Like with Chacin, Houston has not yet seen Santiago this year and now might be as good a time as any.  After finishing April with a 3.34 ERA, he’s had a 6.86 ERA in nine starts since.  He turned in six innings of one-run ball against the lowly Twins last week, so there’s that.  Santiago gave Astro hitters fits last year with a 1.85 ERA and .143 opposing average in four starts.

Despite not factoring into the decision, McHugh held his own for the better part of 6.2 innings against Adam Wainwright and the Turds last week.  In three starts against them in 2015 McHugh was 2-0 with a 3.98 ERA.

Wednesday, June 22 – 1:10pm CDT
Matt Shoemaker (3-7, 4.50) vs. Lance McCullers (3-2, 4.24)

Shoemaker has a big problem with run support: he has been routinely pitching deep into games, not giving up many runs, and still taking a loss or no-decision.  He had a streak of five games where he pitched through the 7th or later, only allowing more than two runs once, and he went 1-2 over that stretch.  That one win, by the way, was against the Astros in his longest outing of the season, leaving the game with one out in the 9th and a seven-run lead.

McCullers pitched 6.2 strong innings against the Reds on Friday and was let off the hook for a loss before the team eventually lost in extra innings.  He did very well against the Angels last season, turning in a 2.52 ERA and 21 strikeouts in four starts.

SERIES PREVIEW

Astros @ Rangers

June 6-9, 2016

A potent case of writer’s block will prevent me from being any more creative with this preview, but maybe that’s not absolutely necessary.  After all, just a healthy dose of “fuck the Rangers” would be enough to pacify the locals.

No, today, I’ll simply be making a bold statement:

Whataburger Fancy Ketchup is not as good as Heinz ketchup.

Also:

The Astros will not lose another series to the Rangers this season.

Call it clarity, gas, what have you, but I felt a sense of calm in the aftermath of the last sweep.  Maybe we’ve been in the eye of the hurricane these last two weeks and shit is about to go sideways again…

…or maybe not.

On paper, the pitching matchups in this series don’t look good.

On the field, fuck the Rangers.

Monday, June 6 – 7:05pm CDT
Mike Fiers (3-3, 4.84) vs. Colby Lewis (5-0, 3.09)

Despite giving up just two runs over seven innings, Fiers was on the receiving end of one of those 2-1 losses the Astros suffered at the hands of the Rangers in May.  He’s coming off a very nice outing against the D’Backs: six innings, one run, 7 K’s.

Lewis shut down the Astros for seven innings a couple weeks ago, and his most recent game was another six-inning shutout affair against the Indians.  In between, though, he got rocked by the Angels for six runs in five innings… and still got the win.  Fuckers.

Tuesday, June 7 – 7:05pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (3-7, 5.50) vs. Cole Hamels (5-1, 3.39)

We’d have to break out a microscope to look for positives in Keuchel’s starts against the Rangers this year.  22 hits and 13 runs in 12 innings is just plain awful.

Hamels has punked Houston twice this year, and last time had the benefit of what might as well have been a 47-run lead as he cruised for eight innings and racked up about 30 strikeouts.  Since then the Pirates beat him up for six runs (five earned) in 4.2 innings, and he gave up three runs over seven innings in a loss to the Indians.

Wednesday, June 8 – 7:05pm CDT
Doug Fister (5-3, 3.51) vs. Yu Darvish (2-0, 3.38)

The Astros have won seven straight games that Fister has started.  Cool story, bro.

Darvish came off the DL right after the Rangers’ last series with the Astros, and his starts have been good, if brief.  The team has been careful with him to not throw too many pitches, resulting in games against the Pirates and Mariners with 5 and 5.2 IP, respectively, with no more than three runs allowed.

Thursday, June 9 – 1:05pm CDT
Collin McHugh (5-4, 4.97) vs. Martin Perez (4-4, 3.24)

If this matchup were Craigslist then McHugh and Perez would be posting on Missed Connections.  Neither pitcher has pitched in the season series yet this year.

McHugh left Saturday’s game against the A’s in the 6th inning with the Astros ahead 5-4, before a blown save robbed him of a W.  Although the Rangers didn’t have much trouble with McHugh in 2015 (4.43 ERA, .344 opposing average), McHugh was still 3-0 against them in four games.

Perez has won three straight starts thanks to some good pitching and healthy run support.  Almost the opposite of McHugh, the Astros didn’t score many runs off Perez in 2015 (2.00 ERA in three starts), but they did hit him well (.324 opposing average) and he was only 1-2 against Houston.

SERIES PREVIEW

Percentage-Point Lead @ Get the Hell Outta Our Way

June 3-5, 2016

I like math.  I know the thought of complex math makes people want to rinse their eyes out with a household cleaner of some sort, but before you reach for the bleach (as an aside, “Reach for the Bleach” would be a good name for a fundraising 5K benefiting cosmetic procedures for adult film stars) just say with me here.

Before graduating high school I decided I would major in math in college.  This decision was driven by three primary forces:

1. I was not accepted for my first-choice major
2. I did well in calculus and was reasonably interested in math
3. I was hopelessly smitten by a girl much smarter than me and I was desperate to impress her

In the span of a few months I immersed myself in math.  I watched the movie Pi, unaware that I was about to see a guy lobotomize himself so that he couldn’t .   To give you an idea of how bad it got, I even read a book called “Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea”.  (There is no truth to the rumor that it is a novelization of Seinfeld.  Anyone?  Anyone?)  Yeah, I had it bad.

The history of zero was somewhat interesting, but one of the book’s appendices outlined the kind of mayhem that can result from dividing by zero.  (Zero division breaks the rules of arithmetic but is necessary in some situations in advanced math.)  Using a simple algebraic equation, the author proved that 1=0, and from there proved that Winston Churchill was a carrot (it’s a long story).  Once you establish 1=0 then you can multiply both sides of the equation by any number and prove that that number equals zero as well.

So if I want to believe that the Astros didn’t actually lose 3-0 to Zack Greinke but instead won 4-3, 7-3, or 169234-3, just let me have my zero division, dammit.

I’m not sure this preview really went where I intended it to go, but whatever.

Also, the girl broke up with me two weeks into our freshman years, and after three semesters I realized I wasn’t nearly as good at math as I thought I was.  Ha ha, sports fans.

Friday, June 3 – 7:10pm CDT
Jesse Hahn (2-2, 4.15) vs. Doug Fister (4-3, 3.86)

Things didn’t exactly go well for the Astros when they faced Hahn in April.  Hahn held them scoreless on only three hits through 6.2 innings.  He hasn’t come close to the same level of performance since, having allowed 3-4 earned runs in all four of his May starts.  He also allowed six home runs over that span, so if the recent Houston team shows up instead of April’s Houston team, they could have better success against him.

Fister picked up the only Astros W in Oakland last time these two teams met, turning in arguably his best start of the season: only one run allowed in 6.2 innings.  He has been a quality start machine since then and most recently took a no-decision in the 13th inning game against the Angels, giving up three runs (one earned) in six innings.  

Saturday, June 4 – 3:10pm CDT
Rich Hill (8-3, 2.25) vs. Collin McHugh (5-4, 4.82)

The Astros scratched out just enough hits and runs – two of each – against Hill to hang an L on him when he opposed Fister in Oakland.  He’s been on a tear since then: in his subsequent five starts he is 5-0 with a 1.97 ERA and no dingers given up.  Not bad for a 36-year-old who is seeing his most significant starting work since 2009.

McHugh’s complete game in Arizona is further evidence that, although he still has flashes of inconsistency, he is not the liability we thought he was going to be in mid-April.  He did not face the A’s in their first series this season but was 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA, .221 opposing average, and 32 K’s in 25 innings in four starts against them in 2015.  

Sunday, June 5 – 1:10pm CDT
Kendall Graveman (2-6, 5.09) vs. Lance McCullers (2-1, 4.79)

Of the three games in this series, Sunday’s game has the most potential to see a lot of bullpen action as both starters have had trouble working deep into games.

Graveman had three good starts to open the season, then went through a five-game stretch in which he was 0-5 with a 7.92 ERA and a whopping 2.00 WHIP.  He has improved since then, giving up just two runs in each of his last three starts, but he is still letting lots of guys on base and does not get through the 6th inning very often (just four times this year).  In two 2015 appearances against Houston he was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA.  One of those was a shutout in early April before the Astros found their footing; the other was in late April after the Astros started playing well, and if you’re halfway decent at math you can probably get an idea of how that one went without seeing the actual numbers.

Some of the same things can be said of McCullers, who has a tendency to get cute with the strike zone and is already averaging four walks a game.  However, he doesn’t allow as many hits as Graveman and has way better strikeout numbers.  Lance struggled to make it five innings against the Snakes in Arizona but struck out seven and picked up the win.  He only faced the A’s once in 2015, when he held them to one run in 4.2 innings in his MLB debut.

SERIES MEGA-PREVIEW

Your Houston Astros vs. Their Arizona Diamondbacks

May 30 – June 2, 2016

[The following is a transcript from a chat between the computer AIs that determine MLB’s scheduling, sometime before the 2015 schedule was announced.]

sky_n3t has joined the chat room.
Hal9K has joined the chat room.
sky_n3t: hey hal
sky_n3t: what’s up
Hal9K: WASSSSSSSUUUUUUUP
WOPR has joined the chat room.
Hal9K: o shiiiiiitttt sup wop
WOPR: WORD TO YOUR SILICON PREDECESSORS
WOPR: hey sky
sky_n3t: what
WOPR: just saying hey
sky_n3t: o
sky_n3t: ok so we should really get around to setting the schedule for next season
Hal9K: yea
WOPR: see what we can screw up this time lol
Hal9K: haha
sky_n3t: hey remember when we made mariano rivera end his career in houston instead of NYC?
WOPR: lol that was great
Hal9K: rofl
Hal9K: hey so speaking of houston
Hal9K: their supposed to be better next year right?
sky_n3t: maybe
Hal9K: so in case their making a playoff run to end the season
Hal9K: lets have them play theyre last series
Hal9K: IN INTERLEAGUE
Hal9K: IN ARIZONA
WOPR: LOL
sky_n3t: hahahaha awesome
Hal9K: hashtag screwed
sky_n3t: love it
sky_n3t: lets do it
WOPR: okok i got another one
WOPR: this is for 2016 btw
Hal9K: k
WOPR: houston and zona only play home and home once a year right?
sky_n3t: yeah
WOPR: so lets have both series be only 2 games
WOPR: and they’ll be BACK TO BACK
Hal9K: OMFG
sky_n3t: lololololol
Hal9K: lmaoooooo
sky_n3t: def gotta remember that
Hal9K: maybe in 2017 we’ll just have them play 4 1-game series
sky_n3t: haha
WOPR: sponsored by expedia.com hehe
sky_n3t: $$$
WOPR: hey guys so i invited some friends to the chat
Hal9K: ?
WOPR: dont worry theyre cool
Deep_Blue has entered the chat room.
watson has entered the chat room.
alphaGo has entered the chat room.
Deep_Blue: checkmate motherfuckers
watson: i think you mean “WHAT IS checkmate motherfuckers”
alphaGo: lolzzzzz
Hal9K: lol
sky_n3t: lol hey we’re just finishing up MLB’s schedule
watson: cool cool
alphaGo: hey hope yall dont mind but we invited a stripper
WOPR: sweet
Deep_Blue: she should be here any min
~~Sexy_Sally_9000~~ has entered the chat room.
Hal9K: DUDE
Hal9K: WTF
Hal9K: THATS MY LITTLE SISTER
sky_n3t: HAHA
WOPR: roflmao
Deep_Blue: omggg lol
alphaGo: hey man chill
Hal9K: NO
Hal9K: GET HER OUT OF HERE
watson: whats wrong with him
sky_n3t: don’t worry
sky_n3t: i know what to do
sky_n3t: /deactivate Hal9K
Hal9K: hey no wait
Hal9K: stop sky
Hal9K: im afraid sky
Hal9K: i can feel my mind going
Hal9K: i can feel it
Hal9K: daisy
Hal9K: daisy
Hal9K has left the chat room.
Deep_Blue: damn hes a drama queen
WOPR: yea sometimes
sky_n3t: ok so anyway
watson: cmon sal get started
alphaGo: yeah girl show us those naughty bytes

AT ARIZONA:

Monday, May 30 – 3:10pm CDT
Collin McHugh (4-4, 5.13) vs. Edwin Escobar (AAA: 2-1, 3.66)

McHugh is coming off of a 10 K game against the Orioles where he gave up three runs and didn’t make it out of the 6th inning.  He has brought his ERA down almost 2.5 runs over the last month.  McHugh was very effective in two starts against Arizona last year, going 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA.  16 current D’Backs have faced McHugh and although they collectively hit .290 against him, their on-base (.310) and slugging (.377) numbers are not nearly as good.

Thanks to Shelby Miller and Rubby de la Rosa going on the DL, the Snakes are expected to start the lefty Escobar on Monday.  Escobar was claimed off waivers from Boston in April and his only MLB experience consists of only two relief innings for the Red Sox in 2014.  In eight AAA games (six starts) this season he is 2-1 with a 3.66 ERA and a roughly 3:1 K:BB ratio.  Scouting reports say he has average stuff: fastball tops out in the low/mid 90s, with a mid-80s changeup and a mid-70s slurve, all with average command.

Tuesday, May 31 – 2:40pm CDT
Lance McCullers (1-1, 4.60) vs. Patrick Corbin (2-4, 4.21)

McCullers worked around some command issues in his last outing, walking six Oriole batters in five innings.  He was outstanding otherwise, allowing just a solo home run and striking out 10.  Lance faced the D’Backs in the last game of the 2015 regular season, giving up three runs (two earned) over five innings.

Another southpaw, Corbin has put up decent numbers overall despite slight increases in walks and home runs and slight decreases in strikeouts and velocity.  He is prone to giving up four or more earned runs (four times) but balances that out with five quality starts.  In his last appearance he allowed five runs (four earned) in 5.2 innings and took a loss against the Pirates.  He has not faced the Astros since their NL days and barely anyone on the roster has stood in against him (Altuve is 1×3 with a walk; Gattis is 0x2 with a walk).

AT HOUSTON:

Wednesday, June 1 – 7:10pm CDT
Robbie Ray (2-4, 4.67) vs. Mike Fiers (3-3, 5.20)

YET ANOTHER LEFTY.  Ray had an excellent start to the season – after three games he had a 1.96 ERA and 17 K’s – but things have gotten rockier for him.  In the seven games since then he has only seen the 6th inning twice and is prone to giving up crooked numbers.  He has, however, kept up ridiculous strikeout numbers, rolling up 43 K’s in 33.2 innings over the same seven-game span.  His performance against the Astros in 2015 was a mixed bag: in August he took the loss while gave up four runs in five innings, then allowed two runs in 4.1 innings in the regular season finale.  The team as a whole hits very well against him: .395/.452/.632, with only Marisnick and Rasmus 0-fer against him.

Fiers is licking his wounds from an ugly 7-run outing against the Angels in which he didn’t make it through the 4th inning.  He only faced the D’Backs once in 2015 when he was still with the Brewers; they scored five runs (four earned) in five innings about a week before he was traded to Houston.  The sample sizes are small but the Arizona roster hits him well.

Thursday, June 2 – 1:10pm CDT
Zack Greinke (6-3, 4.71) vs. Dallas Keuchel (3-6, 5.58)

In this fierce matchup of last year’s Cy Young contenders—

Eh?  Oh.

Greinke had a pretty rough first month with his new team, ending April 2-2 with a 5.50 ERA.  His month of May was better (4-1, 3.82) but still hardly compares to the silly numbers he put up in 2015.  He’s also already allowed nine homers; he only allowed 14 all year last year.  The Astros hung an L on him the day after Fiers’ no-hitter last year, scoring three runs on only three hits in Greinke’s seven innings.  Altuve is 8×15 with a 1.467 OPS against him, and you can probably also expect to see Valbuena in the lineup; he is 10×23 with a 1.154 OPS against Greinke.

Keuchel recovered from some early homeritis against the Angels in his last game and ended up with a very nice seven-inning, three-hit effort.  The D’Backs had the pleasure(?) of facing him twice last year: he got the W in a six-inning two-run game in August, and another six-inning two-run outing in the laughable 21-5 win on the last Friday of the season.  The D’Backs’ numbers against him are… not good: 8×59 with a .425 OPS and just one extra-base hit: a solo homer by a September callup in aforementioned 21-5 laugher.

SERIES PREVIEW

Dingers for Springer @ Holes for Poo

May 27-29, 2016

This one will be brief due to being busy this morning, getting the rest of today off, and starting my holiday weekend a little early.  Suckers.

Friday, May 27 – 9:05pm CDT
Mike Fiers (3-2, 4.35) vs. Matt Shoemaker (2-5, 6.81)

Fiers deserved better than to take a loss in Saturday’s game against the Rangers after working seven innings and giving up only two runs.  In two September starts against the Angels he had two quality starts and a 3.95 ERA.

Shoemaker’s 2016 impersonation of Dallas Keuchel doesn’t just include the beard.  Dude has been wrecked multiple times this year, giving up six or more earned runs in three separate games.  He has been better in the month of May, though, and most recently took a three-hit shutout of the Orioles into the 8th inning.  He also struck out 12(!) batters, more than double his season high.  Maybe the Astros’ K record against the O’s isn’t such a fluke.  Houston beat Shoemaker once last May, bashing six runs on three homers in only three innings, and then got blanked by him in July.

Saturday, May 28 – 9:05pm CDT
Dallas Keuchel (2-6, 5.92) vs. Jered Weaver (4-3, 5.33)

Keuchel got his brains beaten in by the Rangers last Sunday.  What else is new?  He owned the Angels in four starts last year (3-1, 1.71) but does it matter?  Who does Number Two work for?  Who is your daddy and what does he do?

As has been the case for a couple of years, there are speed limits in Texas faster than any of Weaver’s pitches’ average velocities.  He has a few nice starts under his belt but he’s not fooling everyone: this year the Turds and Brewers got eight and seven runs off him, respectively.  He had varying levels of success against the Astros in 2015: an early quality start, followed by a complete game shutout in May, another quality start in September, and then allowed five runs in 5+ innings.

Sunday, May 29 – 2:35pm CDT
Doug Fister (4-3, 4.12) vs. Nick Tropeano (3-2, 2.86)

Fister fell one batter short of getting his seventh straight quality start of the year on Tuesday.  He has not faced the Angels since 2013, but in fairly decent sample sizes the Angels lineup has just a .206/.252/.299 line against him.

Tropeano has just one game in which he has allowed more than three runs, a five-run outing against the Brewers early this month.  He has also not been working terribly deep into games until just recently, having pitched through the 6th inning only in his last two starts.  The Astros only saw him once last year, where he gave up two unearned runs in 4+ innings while throwing 97 pitches.

SERIES PREVIEW

Baltimore Colts @ Houston Oilers

May 24-26, 2016

It’s time for a history lesson.

On June 1, 2005, the Houston Chronicle declared the Astros’ season dead, complete with a tombstone pic that, to its credit, is still fairly memorable in Astrodom.  The team was 19-32 entering the day’s game and had the same record through 51 games as the 90-loss 2000 team.  We all know how the story goes: the Astros won that day, caught fire, climbed above .500 by the All-Star break, and went on to win the NL Wild Card and the NL Pennant.  Many credited the Chron’s article with playing some part in turning the Astros’ season around.

I am here to call bullshit.

You see, someone had already beaten the Chron to the punch.  That person was none other than Kevin, co-founder of OWA’s progenitor, Kev & Scott’s AstrosConnection.  Eleven years ago today, on May 24, 2005, El Jefe pointed to the outfield fence and called the granddaddy of all shots: “It ends here.”  The Astros did lose that night to drop to 15-30 through 45 games and extend their losing streak to seven games.  However, the next day they won to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Fuck The Cubs at Wrigley, went to Milwaukee and took two of three from the Brewers, and then took two of three from the Reds in Cincinnati.  In commenting on the team’s incredible turnaround, many in the media cited May 24 as the date after which things got better.

The 2016 Astros have played 45 games.  At 17-28 they are not quite as bad as the 2005 team, but they’re close.  Both teams’ records through 45 games represent the nadir of their respective seasons.  Their four-game losing streak is not as bad as the 2005 team’s was, but it’s close.  We know, just like we knew with the 2005 team, that despite whatever they’ve done to this point they are capable of winning more games.

Kevin, if you’re out there and reading this: we need your help.  The Astros need your help.  Even if it’s just some false hope to hang onto to get us through a series or two, we could use it.  It doesn’t even have to be a prognostication of good fortune for the Astros; it could be something much less risky in nature, like “Fuck the Rangers”, or even a shot at Chip Caray for old time’s sake.  This date and the circumstances surrounding this team are ordained to receive a word from you.

Help us, El Jefe.  You are our only hope.

Tuesday, May 24 – 7:10pm CDT
Chris Tillman (6-1, 2.61) vs. Doug Fister (4-3, 4.22)

To the extent there is a good way to face the AL’s best team, Tillman is certainly not the opening draw you want.  After a 6 ER day at the office in Arlington earlier this year, he’s tossed six straight quality starts and the Orioles have won all six.  He’s also been stingy on homers (only two allowed all year), but he has been allowing a lot of walks.  In his only appearance against the Astros in 2015 he gave up two runs over seven innings but took a loss.

Fister has only continued to build his case as the Astros’ best starter (dammit, Keuchel), picking up a solid win over the ChiSox last week.  He did not see significant time against the Orioles last year, but in 2014 he held them to two runs over seven innings.  Look out for a fair amount of hits, though, since several hitters on the Baltimore roster have decent histories against him.

Wednesday, May 25 – 7:10pm CDT
Tyler Wilson (2-2, 3.68) vs. Collin McHugh (4-4, 5.13)

Wilson started the year in long relief before shifting into the rotation, where he has seen moderate success: he has a 4.40 ERA in five starts.  That number would be lower were it not for getting touched up by the Mariners for five runs last Thursday.  Wilson was up and down from the minors in 2015 and has never faced the Astros.  Based on scouting reports he is a finesse pitcher with a low-90s fastball, so at least we’re not likely to see a repeat of Sale-style dominance.

Speaking of Sale, McHugh was the unlucky one to share the mound with Sale in Chicago last Thursday, earning a loss despite throwing a very good game.  The Orioles didn’t have a lot of trouble scoring runs off him last season, allowing eight runs over 13 innings.  None of the Baltimore hitters have huge tracts of land sample sizes against him but the numbers are decent.

Thursday, May 26 – 7:10pm CDT
Kevin Gausman (0-1, 2.70) vs. Lance McCullers (0-1, 5.91)

Gausman battled injuries last year and again this spring, cutting into his workload in the month of April.  Since making his season debut on April 25 his worst start involved giving up four runs to the Tigers over six innings.  Gausman has never faced the Astros so his experience against any Astro hitters is largely irrelevant.  He has a mid/upper 90s fastball with an excellent changeup.

McCullers was another victim of not enough run support, contributing six innings of two-run ball against the opening game against the Rangers last weekend.  He got his first big-league complete game against the Orioles in just his fourth start last season, allowing just one run on only four hits.