A pair of teams expecting to be playing deep in October open up an early week set on the diamond down in the Sunshine State. The Houston Astros are on the road as they play the first game of a three-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays Monday night. Houston closed a three-game set on the road in Hotlanta against the Braves Sunday afternoon looking to sweep the series. The Astros won 6-3 in the middle game of the set Saturday night. Tampa Bay closed a three-game set at home with the White Sox looking for a sweep: they prevailed 4-3 in 10 innings in the middle game of their series Saturday. The Astros won the season series 5-1 last season, including taking two of three at home in the most recent series September 30-October 2, 2022.
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Houston won their third straight game Saturday night and went into Sunday looking to sweep the NL East-leading Braves on the road. The Astros entered Sunday 11-10 on the season and stood second in the AL West, 2.5 games behind the Rangers for the top spot in the division. Against Atlanta Saturday, Houston banged out 11 hits with Jeremy Pena (run) leading the way with three while Corey Julks (RBI) adding two in the win. Kyle Tucker (his fifth) and Yordan Alvarez (his sixth) each homered in the victory for Houston. Framber Valdez (2-2) earned the win as he threw seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. Bryan Abreu worked a scoreless ninth, striking out two, for his first save.
Jose Urquidy is on the hill for the Astros as he makes his fifth start of the season in this contest. He comes in 1-1 with a 3.66 ERA, a 1.525 WHIP, seven walks and 17 strikeouts over 1 9.2 innings of work this season. Urquidy took the loss in his last start, which came Tuesday at home against the Blue Jays. He threw 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in a game Houston dropped by a 4-2 score. In his last three starts, Urquidy is 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, six walks and 12 strikeouts over 15.2 innings of work. Urquidy makes his third career start against the Rays in this contest. He is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA, a 0.917 WHIP, two walks and 11 strikeouts over 12 innings of work against them. Urquidy earend the win in his lone career start at Tropicana Field, which came on May 1, 2021. He threw seven shutout innings, allowing four hits with one walk and five strikeouts in a 3-1 Astros victory.