Astros host the Red Sox after Garcia's strong showing

Boston Red Sox (32-22, second in the AL East) vs. Houston Astros (30-24, second in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Red Sox: Nick Pivetta (6-0, 3.86 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 59 strikeouts) Astros: Framber Valdez (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 4 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: Houston heads into the matchup fresh off a strong showing by Garcia. Garcia pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits with six strikeouts against Boston.

The Astros are 19-12 in home games in 2020. Houston's team on-base percentage of .333 is second in the American League. Alex Bregman leads the team with an OBP of .382.

The Red Sox are 16-9 on the road. Boston has hit 69 home runs this season, eighth in the majors. Rafael Devers leads the club with 14, averaging one every 13.6 at-bats.

The Astros won the last meeting 5-1. Luis Garcia earned his fourth victory and Jose Altuve went 1-for-2 with a home run and an RBI for Houston. Garrett Richards registered his fourth loss for Boston.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yuli Gurriel leads the Astros with 22 extra base hits and is batting .304.

J.D. Martinez leads the Red Sox with 62 hits and has 39 RBI.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 4-6, .237 batting average, 4.07 ERA, outscored by five runs

Red Sox: 6-4, .231 batting average, 4.39 ERA

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Austin Pruitt: (elbow), Lance McCullers Jr.: (shoulder), Josh James: (hip), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder), Bryan Abreu: (calf), Michael Brantley: (hamstring), Yordan Alvarez: (wrist), Jason Castro: (achilles).

Red Sox: Chris Sale: (elbow), Ryan Brasier: (left calf).

------

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