Astros play the Athletics in first of 4-game series

Oakland Athletics (52-91, fifth in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (93-50, first in the AL West)

Houston; Thursday, 7:20 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Athletics: James Kaprielian (3-9, 4.79 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 76 strikeouts); Astros: Lance McCullers Jr. (3-1, 2.20 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 26 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -314, Athletics +250; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros host the Oakland Athletics on Thursday to begin a four-game series.

Houston is 93-50 overall and 47-22 in home games. Astros hitters have a collective .319 on-base percentage, the seventh-best percentage in MLB play.

Oakland has a 52-91 record overall and a 29-42 record on the road. The Athletics have gone 20-10 in games when they hit at least two home runs.

Thursday's game is the 16th time these teams match up this season. The Astros are ahead 9-6 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Alex Bregman has 35 doubles, 21 home runs and 85 RBI for the Astros. Kyle Tucker is 11-for-41 with a double, five home runs and 12 RBI over the past 10 games.

Sean Murphy has 32 doubles, a triple and 18 home runs for the Athletics. Seth Brown is 12-for-37 with two doubles, five home runs and seven RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 8-2, .258 batting average, 2.08 ERA, outscored opponents by 24 runs

Athletics: 3-7, .235 batting average, 7.26 ERA, outscored by 22 runs

INJURIES: Astros: Yordan Alvarez: day-to-day (hand), Justin Verlander: 15-Day IL (calf), Michael Brantley: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jason Castro: 60-Day IL (knee), Josh James: 60-Day IL (lat)

Athletics: James Kaprielian: day-to-day (finger), Adam Oller: 15-Day IL (rib), Zach Jackson: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Dany Jimenez: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Paul Blackburn: 60-Day IL (finger), Daulton Jefferies: 60-Day IL (arm), Deolis Guerra: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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