The Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays will play Tuesday at Tropicana Field.
Houston (12-10 SU and 12-9 RL) won four of its previous five before its series with Tampa Bay. The Astros will start righty Luis Garcia in the second game of the series. The 26-year-old is 1-2 with a 5.14 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 2023.
Tampa Bay (19-3 SU and 16-6 RL) swept the Chicago White Sox over the weekend. The Rays will turn to right-hander Drew Rasmussen on Tuesday at The Trop. The 27-year-old is 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 0.94 WHIP this year.
First pitch is at 6:40 p.m. ET. The Rays are -155 moneyline favorites and the game total is 7.5.
Houston is starting to look like a team with legitimate aspirations for a World Series championship again. Don't look now, but the Astros are rolling, with consecutive series wins over Toronto and Atlanta. Now just 2.5 games behind rival Texas in the AL West, Houston figures to be a tough matchup for Tampa Bay this week.
The Astros score 5.14 runs per game (7th) and hit .255 (9th) with a .718 OPS (17th). They've hit 22 home runs (20th) and stolen 17 bases (12th). LF Yordan Alvarez paces the club in home runs (6) and RBI (27), while 2B Mauricio Dubón leads the team in batting average (.329) and hits (25). The Houston pitching staff has compiled a 3.22 ERA (3rd) and a 1.20 WHIP (6th) with ten quality starts.
Dubon's 17 game hit streak. Tied for the longest in the league. pic.twitter.com /LFlxNDgpXs
— Houston Astros (@astros) April 23, 2023
Garcia gets the nod in game two after a stellar performance against the Blue Jays in his last start. In that outing, he struck out nine and gave up zero runs on two hits and a walk in seven innings. It was a significant step in the right direction for Garcia, who was shelled for five runs on six hits and two walks by the Rangers in his previous appearance.