The Houston Astros (82-47, 68-61 RL, 49-75-5 O/U) battle the Texas Rangers (58-69, 72-54 RL, 62-58-6 O/U) in the second of a three-game series on Wednesday night. The Astros will likely have Christian Javier on the mound. The Rangers will counter with veteran Martin Perez. The Astros now lead the season series by a 10-4 count.
Cristian Javier will get the nod for the 25th time of the season. Javier exited after allowing two runs in three innings against the Orioles last Friday and was tagged with the loss. The right-hander was pitching well prior to that one, conceding two or fewer runs in five consecutive starts, and features a stellar 2.97 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP accompanied by a 7-9 record in 115.1 innings. He has limited Texas to five runs in 17 innings this season and is 4-1 with a 2.77 ERA in 48.1 career innings against the foes.
The Astros have all but secured another division title and are again a World Series contender. They have built a 12-game lead ahead of Seattle. Houston lost two of three against the Orioles prior to this series but continues to thrive on the mound and has won five out of their last seven games overall.
Jeremy Pena has been slumping in a big way at the dish, logging an abysmal .500 OPS this month. The 24-year-old shortstop was having a great first half of the season but only has 16 homers and 45 RBIs along with a .690 OPS on the year. Pena is hitting .220 with three RBIs against Texas.
The Astros are averaging 4.52 runs per game, ranking them 10th overall. The pitching staff enters with a 3.04 team ERA, placing them second in the big leagues.