Minnesota Twins (47-64, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (66-45, first in the AL West)
Houston; Sunday, 2:10 p.m. EDT
PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Kenta Maeda (4-4, 4.65 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 99 strikeouts) Astros: Lance McCullers Jr. (9-2, 3.02 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 124 strikeouts)
LINE: Astros -196, Twins +167; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Minnesota will face off on Sunday.
The Astros are 35-22 on their home turf. Houston has slugged .439 this season. Kyle Tucker leads the team with a mark of .525.
The Twins are 23-34 in road games. Minnesota has hit 157 home runs as a team this season. Jorge Polanco leads the club with 18, averaging one every 22.1 at-bats.
The Astros won the last meeting 4-0. Luis Garcia earned his eighth victory and Yordan Alvarez went 1-for-4 with a home run and an RBI for Houston. Michael Pineda registered his seventh loss for Minnesota.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tucker leads the Astros with 47 extra base hits and is slugging .525.
Polanco leads the Twins with 42 extra base hits and is slugging .469.
LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .272 batting average, 3.94 ERA, outscored opponents by 10 runs
Twins: 4-6, .249 batting average, 5.50 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), Luis Arraez: (knee).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
