Arizona Diamondbacks (71-83) vs. Houston Astros (101-53)
The Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros wrap up their four-game interleague series with a two-game set finale at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, on Wednesday night with the first pitch at 8:10 PM ET.
Arizona and Houston split a two-game series at Chase Field back in April, while the opening contest of this series has been excluded from the analysis. The Astros are firm -185 moneyline favorites for Wednesday’s closer, and the D-backs are +170 road dogs with a total of 6.5 runs.
The Arizona Diamondbacks entered Tuesday’s clash at Minute Maid Park looking to bounce back from a 3-2 defeat at the San Francisco Giants. It was their 14th defeat in 20 games, and the D-backs haven’t won the series in more than three weeks. Arizona holds the lowest OPS in the majors in September, slashing a poor .219/.281/.368 with 27 home runs across 818 at-bats.
On the pitching side of things, the Diamondbacks have compiled a serviceable 3.61 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, and .235 opposing batting average over the last couple of weeks and 124.2 innings pitched. However, their bullpen has recorded an underwhelming 4.44 ERA and 6.7 K/9 in that span.
Game 155. pic.twitter.com/WW 07NjBNRn
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) September 27, 2022
Zac Gallen will get the starting call Wednesday. The 27-year-old righty boasts a 12-3 record in 29 starts this season (172 innings pitched) along with a shiny 2.46 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and 180/43 K/BB ratio. He’s been terrific since the All-Star break, tallying a microscopic 1.15 ERA and 1.57 FIP through 78.1 innings of work (12 starts).
Last Thursday, Gallen dominated the mighty Dodgers lineup at Dodger Stadium in LA. Zac fanned 13 across eight stellar innings, allowing just one earned run on a pair of hits in a no-decision (Arizona lost 3-2 eventually).