Morgan, Indians to take on McCullers Jr., Astros

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Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Cleveland Indians (47-45, second in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (58-38, first in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Indians: Eli Morgan (1-3, 7.86 ERA, 1.52 WHIP, 28 strikeouts) Astros: Lance McCullers Jr. (7-2, 2.80 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 99 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -245, Indians +202; over/under is 9 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Indians travel to play the Houston Astros on Wednesday.

The Astros are 31-19 in home games in 2020. The Houston pitching staff averages 9 strikeouts per nine innings, Zack Greinke leads them with a mark of 6.6.

The Indians are 23-26 on the road. Cleveland has slugged .397 this season. Jose Ramirez leads the team with a .511 slugging percentage, including 39 extra-base hits and 19 home runs.

The Astros won the last meeting 9-3. Luis Garcia earned his seventh victory and Jose Altuve went 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI for Houston. Triston McKenzie registered his fourth loss for Cleveland.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Tucker leads the Astros with 39 extra base hits and is batting .277.

Amed Rosario leads the Indians with 83 hits and is batting .263.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .199 batting average, 3.78 ERA, outscored by four runs

Indians: 5-5, .242 batting average, 4.65 ERA, outscored by four runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Brooks Raley: (health and safety protocols), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Josh James: (hip), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder), Aledmys Diaz: (hand), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).

Indians: Cam Hill: (wrist), Aaron Civale: (finger), Shane Bieber: (shoulder), Eddie Rosario: (abdominal), Josh Naylor: (ankle), Jordan Luplow: (ankle).

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