Tampa Bay Rays and Houston Astros meet in game 2 of series

Tampa Bay Rays (29-27, second in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (30-26, second in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rays: Ryan Pepiot (3-5, 3.55 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 52 strikeouts); Astros: Framber Valdez (4-4, 3.39 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 64 strikeouts)

BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Astros -167, Rays +140; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Tampa Bay Rays face the Houston Astros with a 1-0 series lead.

Houston is 30-26 overall and 20-11 in home games. Astros pitchers have a collective 3.55 ERA, which ranks eighth in the majors.

Tampa Bay has gone 11-8 in road games and 29-27 overall. The Rays have a 20-6 record in games when they have more hits than their opponents.

Friday’s game is the fifth time these teams match up this season. The Rays have a 3-1 advantage in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Isaac Paredes has seven doubles, a triple and 11 home runs for the Astros. Jose Altuve is 15 for 39 with five home runs and eight RBIs over the past 10 games.

Junior Caminero has 11 home runs, nine walks and 32 RBIs while hitting .256 for the Rays. Brandon Lowe is 14 for 36 with three doubles, four home runs and six RBIs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 6-4, .299 batting average, 4.29 ERA, outscored opponents by six runs

Rays: 8-2, .272 batting average, 2.00 ERA, outscored opponents by 39 runs

INJURIES: Astros: Christian Walker: day-to-day (hand), Ronel Blanco: 15-Day IL (elbow), Hayden Wesneski: 60-Day IL (elbow), Yordan Alvarez: 10-Day IL (hand), Spencer Arrighetti: 15-Day IL (thumb), Luis Garcia: 60-Day IL (elbow), Cristian Javier: 60-Day IL (elbow), J.P. France: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Taylor Trammell: 10-Day IL (calf), Pedro Leon: 10-Day IL (knee)

Rays: Jonny Deluca: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Travis Jankowski: 10-Day IL (groin), Ha-Seong Kim: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Hunter Bigge: 15-Day IL (lat), Shane McClanahan: 60-Day IL (tricep), Jake Mangum: 10-Day IL (groin), Richie Palacios: 10-Day IL (knee), Alex Faedo: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Nathan Lavender: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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