Astros and Phillies meet in series rubber match

Philadelphia Phillies (87-74, third in the NL East) vs. Houston Astros (105-56, first in the AL West)

Houston; Wednesday, 4:10 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Phillies: Bailey Falter (6-4, 3.90 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 74 strikeouts); Astros: Framber Valdez (16-6, 2.84 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 184 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -186, Phillies +158; over/under is 7 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies meet on Wednesday with the winner claiming the three-game series.

Houston has gone 54-26 in home games and 105-56 overall. The Astros are 66-19 in games when they record at least eight hits.

Philadelphia has an 87-74 record overall and a 40-40 record on the road. The Phillies have the third-ranked team slugging percentage in the NL at .423.

The teams meet Wednesday for the third time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jose Altuve has 39 doubles, 28 home runs and 57 RBI for the Astros. Jeremy Pena is 11-for-35 with a double, a triple and three home runs over the past 10 games.

Kyle Schwarber leads Philadelphia with 46 home runs while slugging .506. J.T. Realmuto is 8-for-31 with a home run and three RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 6-4, .260 batting average, 2.93 ERA, outscored opponents by nine runs

Phillies: 4-6, .245 batting average, 4.50 ERA, outscored by five runs

INJURIES: Astros: Michael Brantley: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Jason Castro: 60-Day IL (knee), Josh James: 60-Day IL (lat)

Phillies: Brad Hand: 15-Day IL (elbow), Edmundo Sosa: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Kent Emanuel: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Mark Appel: 60-Day IL (elbow), Simon Muzziotti: 60-Day IL (knee), Corey Knebel: 60-Day IL (lat), Hans Crouse: 60-Day IL (biceps), James McArthur: 60-Day IL (elbow), Damon Jones: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

------

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