Astros meet the Royals with 1-0 series lead

Kansas City Royals (75-60, second in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (72-62, first in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Royals: Seth Lugo (14-8, 3.19 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 146 strikeouts); Astros: Framber Valdez (13-6, 3.27 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 139 strikeouts)

: LINE Astros -160, Royals +134; over/under is 8 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros play the Kansas City Royals with a 1-0 series lead.

Houston is 72-62 overall and 36-29 in home games. The Astros have gone 35-13 in games when they did not give up a home run.

Kansas City is 75-60 overall and 34-32 in road games. Royals pitchers have a collective 3.91 ERA, which ranks seventh in the AL.

Friday's game is the fifth time these teams meet this season. The Royals are up 3-1 in the season series.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez leads the Astros with a .313 batting average, and has 29 doubles, two triples, 28 home runs, 60 walks and 71 RBI. Yainer Diaz is 12-for-42 with three home runs and three RBI over the last 10 games.

Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with 78 extra base hits (39 doubles, 11 triples and 28 home runs). Salvador Perez is 11-for-38 with four doubles, three home runs and nine RBI over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 4-6, .260 batting average, 3.00 ERA, outscored opponents by nine runs

Royals: 5-5, .265 batting average, 5.22 ERA, outscored by nine runs

INJURIES: Astros: J.P. France: 60-Day IL (undisclosed), Kyle Tucker: 60-Day IL (shin), Cristian Javier: 60-Day IL (forearm), Jose Urquidy: 60-Day IL (forearm), Oliver Ortega: 60-Day IL (elbow), Bennett Sousa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Penn Murfee: 60-Day IL (elbow), Luis Garcia: 60-Day IL (elbow), Lance McCullers Jr.: 60-Day IL (elbow), Kendall Graveman: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Royals: Lucas Erceg: day-to-day (hand), Vinnie Pasquantino: day-to-day (undisclosed), Michael Lorenzen: 15-Day IL (hamstring), Will Smith: 15-Day IL (back), Hunter Renfroe: 10-Day IL (hamstring), Hunter Harvey: 15-Day IL (back), Dan Altavilla: 60-Day IL (oblique), Josh Taylor: 60-Day IL (biceps), Kyle Wright: 60-Day IL (shoulder)

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