Astros' Justin Verlander and Alex Bregman return for finale against Red Sox
BACK IN THE SADDLE
21 August
Justin Verlander is finally back on the hill for Houston. Composite Getty Image.
Boston Red Sox (66-59, third in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (68-57, first in the AL West)
Houston; Wednesday, 2:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Cooper Criswell (5-4, 4.56 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 57 strikeouts); Astros: Justin Verlander (0-0)
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK: LINE Astros -111, Red Sox -109; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Boston Red Sox take on the Houston Astros after Jarren Duran had four hits on Tuesday in a 6-5 win over the Astros.
Houston has a 35-28 record at home and a 68-57 record overall. The Astros have gone 53-29 in games when they record eight or more hits.
Boston is 66-59 overall and 37-27 on the road. The Red Sox rank fifth in MLB play with 159 total home runs, averaging 1.3 per game.
The matchup Wednesday is the sixth time these teams match up this season. The Astros hold a 4-1 advantage in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads Houston with 25 home runs while slugging .552. Alex Bregman is 16-for-45 with five home runs and eight RBI over the last 10 games.
Duran has 38 doubles, 13 triples and 17 home runs for the Red Sox. Masataka Yoshida is 13-for-32 with two doubles, two home runs and seven RBI over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 8-2, .263 batting average, 2.27 ERA, outscored opponents by 22 runs
Red Sox: 5-5, .266 batting average, 5.35 ERA, outscored by four runs
Today's lineup has Bregman returning as the DH and Jose Altuve getting the day off.
The Astros against Cooper Criswell: Bregman DH, Alvarez 7, Diaz 3, Peña 6, Caratini 2, Meyers 8, Dubón 4, Whitcomb 5, McCormick 9
Verlander RHP
— Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) August 21, 2024
INJURIES: Astros: J.P. France: 60-Day IL (undisclosed), Ryan Pressly: 15-Day IL (back), Alex Bregman: day-to-day (elbow), Kyle Tucker: 60-Day IL (shin), Justin Verlander: 15-Day IL (neck), Cristian Javier: 60-Day IL (forearm), Jose Urquidy: 60-Day IL (forearm), Oliver Ortega: 60-Day IL (elbow), Bennett Sousa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Penn Murfee: 60-Day IL (elbow), Luis Garcia: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lance McCullers Jr.: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kendall Graveman: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Red Sox: Cam Booser: 15-Day IL (elbow), James Paxton: 15-Day IL (leg), Bryan Mata: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Justin Slaten: 15-Day IL (elbow), Garrett Whitlock: 60-Day IL (oblique), Trevor Story: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Liam Hendriks: 60-Day IL (elbow), Chris Murphy: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lucas Giolito: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Dylan Cease pitched brilliantly into the ninth inning and Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Donovan Solano hit consecutive homers in the eighth for the San Diego Padres, who beat the AL West-leading Houston Astros 4-0 on Wednesday.
Machado homered twice for the Padres, who won two of three against the Astros and stayed two games ahead of Arizona for the first NL wild card. The Astros came in with a five-game division lead over Seattle.
Cease (14-11), who threw his first career no-hitter on July 25 at Washington, took a one-hitter into the ninth before Mauricio Dubón beat out an infield single to shortstop. Cease struck out Jake Meyers but then shortstop Xander Bogaerts booted Jose Altuve's grounder for an error that allowed Dubón to take third, and that was it for the right-hander after 103 pitches.
Cease retired the first 15 Astros batters before allowing a single to right field by Jason Heyward to open the sixth. Cease then retired the side.
Cease struck out five and walked none. Tanner Scott got two outs for his 21st save.
Machado, who has 29 homers, lined a shot to left-center off Framber Valdez opening the sixth.
Tatis, who struck out in his first three at-bats, hit reliever Kaleb Ort's first pitch into the first row in left-center leading off the eighth. It was his 19th. Machado followed with a shot deep into the seats in left and Solano hit a liner to left, his seventh. That was it for Ort, who threw just nine pitches.
Valdez (14-7) went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out six and walking two.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: 1B/DH Luis Arraez got the day off to rest his sore left knee, which he jammed into home plate while being thrown out on Monday night. Arraez started at DH on Tuesday night.
UP NEXT
Astros: LHP Yusei Kikuchi (9-9, 4.29 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday night in the opener of a four-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels, who will go with LHP José Suarez (1-2, 6.80).
Padres: Hadn't announced their starter for Friday night's home series opener against the Chicago White Sox.
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
