Astros play Oakland, look to build on Greinke's strong performance

Houston Astros (25-18, second in the AL West) vs. Oakland Athletics (26-18, first in the AL West)

Oakland, California; Thursday, 3:37 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Luis Garcia (1-3, 3.34 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 40 strikeouts) Athletics: Cole Irvin (3-4, 3.02 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 39 strikeouts)

LINE: Athletics +102, Astros -120; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Houston heads into the matchup after a dominant performance by Zack Greinke. Greinke went eight innings, surrendering one run on four hits with eight strikeouts against Oakland.

The Athletics are 3-6 against AL West opponents. Oakland has hit 56 home runs this season, sixth in the MLB. Ramon Laureano leads them with 10, averaging one every 15.2 at-bats.

The Astros have gone 20-9 against division opponents. The Houston pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 3.70, Zack Greinke leads the staff with a mark of 3.77.

The Astros won the last meeting 8-1. Greinke earned his fourth victory and Yuli Gurriel went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI for Houston. Frankie Montas took his third loss for Oakland.

TOP PERFORMERS: Laureano leads the Athletics with 10 home runs and has 20 RBI.

Gurriel leads the Astros with 36 RBI and is batting .338.

LAST 10 GAMES: Athletics: 6-4, .230 batting average, 4.19 ERA, outscored by two runs

Astros: 8-2, .310 batting average, 3.14 ERA, outscored opponents by 32 runs

INJURIES: Athletics: J.B. Wendelken: (left oblique), Trevor Rosenthal: (chest), A.J. Puk: (left biceps), Jesus Luzardo: (left hand), Mike Fiers: (right elbow), Mitch Moreland: (rib).

Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Framber Valdez: (finger), Jose Urquidy: (shoulder), Blake Taylor: (ankle), Austin Pruitt: (elbow), Jake Odorizzi: (right pronator muscle), Josh James: (hip), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.