Greinke expected to start as Astros host the Twins

Updated Aug. 6, 2021 3:20 a.m. ET

Minnesota Twins (46-63, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (65-44, first in the AL West)

Houston; Friday, 8:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Bailey Ober (1-1, 4.94 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 51 strikeouts) Astros: Zack Greinke (10-3, 3.65 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 97 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -231, Twins +192; over/under is 9 runs

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BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Minnesota will meet on Friday.

The Astros are 34-21 in home games in 2020. Houston's lineup has 146 home runs this season, Jose Altuve leads them with 25 homers.

The Twins are 22-33 on the road. Minnesota has slugged .430 this season. Jorge Polanco leads the team with a .474 slugging percentage, including 41 extra-base hits and 18 home runs.

The Twins won the last meeting 5-3. Griffin Jax earned his second victory and Rob Refsnyder went 2-for-3 with a double for Minnesota. Framber Valdez took his third loss for Houston.

TOP PERFORMERS: Altuve leads the Astros with 25 home runs and is batting .268.

Polanco leads the Twins with 106 hits and has 57 RBIs.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .266 batting average, 4.92 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs

Twins: 4-6, .260 batting average, 5.90 ERA, outscored by five runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder), Yuli Gurriel: (neck), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).

Twins: Cody Stashak: (back), Devin Smeltzer: (elbow), Taylor Rogers: (finger), Derek Law: (shoulder), Luke Farrell: (oblique), Randy Dobnak: (finger), Edwar Colina: (elbow), Alex Kirilloff: (wrist), Kyle Garlick: (hernia), Byron Buxton: (hand).

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

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