Texas Rangers (79-71, third in the AL West) vs. Houston Astros (81-69, second in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Rangers: Jack Leiter (9-8, 3.81 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 130 strikeouts); Astros: Jason Alexander (4-1, 4.18 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 55 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros host the Texas Rangers to start a three-game series.

Houston is 43-32 in home games and 81-69 overall. The Astros have the seventh-best team batting average in MLB play at .252.

Texas has a 32-43 record in road games and a 79-71 record overall. Rangers pitchers have a collective 3.42 ERA, which leads the AL.

The teams square off Monday for the 11th time this season. The Rangers lead the season series 6-4.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Altuve leads the Astros with 25 home runs while slugging .443. Carlos Correa is 12 for 42 with three home runs and five RBIs over the last 10 games.

Josh Smith has a .257 batting average to lead the Rangers, and has 23 doubles, two triples and nine home runs. Jake Burger is 11 for 37 with four home runs and eight RBIs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 4-6, .247 batting average, 3.74 ERA, outscored opponents by five runs

Rangers: 7-3, .218 batting average, 2.93 ERA, outscored opponents by two runs

INJURIES: Astros: Jose Altuve: day-to-day (foot), Lance McCullers: 15-Day IL (hand), Luis Garcia: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kaleb Ort: 15-Day IL (elbow), Spencer Arrighetti: 15-Day IL (elbow), John Rooney: 60-Day IL (concussion / nasal), Brendan Rodgers: 60-Day IL (oblique), Pedro Leon: 60-Day IL (knee), Brandon Walter: 60-Day IL (elbow), Bennett Sousa: 15-Day IL (elbow), Josh Hader: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Isaac Paredes: 60-Day IL (hamstring), Zach Dezenzo: 60-Day IL (hand), Ronel Blanco: 60-Day IL (elbow), Hayden Wesneski: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Rangers: Jon Gray: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Danny Coulombe: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Corey Seager: 10-Day IL (appendectomy), Evan Carter: 60-Day IL (wrist), Nathan Eovaldi: 15-Day IL (rotator cuff), Marcus Semien: 10-Day IL (foot), Sam Haggerty: 10-Day IL (oblique), Tyler Mahle: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Cody Bradford: 60-Day IL (elbow), Josh Sborz: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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