ALWAYS BE CLOSING

Houston Astros within striking distance of clinching top seed in AL

Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve of the Astros
Astros magic number down to two. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.
Bielak with an impressive start, Astros rally late but come up short as Diamondbacks take series

With no game on Monday, the Astros are rested and back in action Tuesday night at Minute Maid against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Luis Garcia (13-8, 3.90 ERA) will make the start for Houston, with Zach Davies (2-4, 4.03 ERA) pitching for the D-Backs. Lance McCullers was originally scheduled to pitch, but was scratched due to an "illness."


Magic number: 2

The Astros currently sit atop the AL sporting a 101-53 record, 6.5 games ahead of the 94-59 New York Yankees. So the Astros could clinch the AL on Tuesday with a win over the Diamondbacks, and a Yankees loss. The Yankees face the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night. The Yankees are 1.5 run underdogs according to online betting sites.

The Astros can also clinch by winning their next two games, regardless of what happens with the Yankees. Both the Yankees and the Astros are playing well currently, as both clubs have won 7 of their last 10 games.

With the Yankees game starting about an hour before the Astros take on the Diamondbacks, the Astros may know the results of Yankees-Blue Jays while they're trying to finish off the D-Backs. So be sure to watch tonight's Astros game because we could see some fun celebrations if the Astros manage to win and the Yankees fall to Toronto.

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The injury bug bites again.Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.

The Houston Astros announced on Monday that additional imaging has revealed that Jeremy Peña is dealing with a small fracture in one of his ribs.

Peña left Friday's game after being hit by a pitch in the ribs. The club originally believed they had avoided any fractures or breaks, but new information has informed them otherwise.

Peña is heading to the 10-day injured list retroactive to June 28. This news comes at an unfortunate time, with Jeremy posting the best regular season numbers of his career. He's currently slashing .322, .378, .489 with an .867 OPS.

Peña will miss the Rockies and Dodgers series at a minimum.

Let's hope the team doesn't rush him back too soon and create an even bigger problem. These quotes above from Dana Brown have me concerned. Playing through injuries can create bad habits, and Jeremy has clearly found his swing this season.

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