Valdez expected to start as Houston hosts Minnesota

Minnesota Twins (45-63, fifth in the AL Central) vs. Houston Astros (65-43, first in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Twins: Griffin Jax (1-1, 6.41 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 22 strikeouts) Astros: Framber Valdez (7-2, 3.01 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 66 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -269, Twins +221; over/under is 9 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Minnesota will play on Thursday.

The Astros are 34-20 on their home turf. Houston has a team on-base percentage of .337, led by Yuli Gurriel with a mark of .387.

The Twins are 21-33 on the road. Minnesota has hit 156 home runs as a team this season. Jorge Polanco leads the club with 18, averaging one every 21.3 at-bats.

The Astros won the last meeting 14-3. Framber Valdez earned his third victory and Michael Brantley went 4-for-5 with three doubles and four RBI for Houston. Michael Pineda registered his fourth loss for Minnesota.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brantley is second on the Astros with 112 hits and has 37 RBI.

Polanco leads the Twins with 41 extra base hits and is batting .273.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 6-4, .272 batting average, 4.50 ERA, outscored opponents by 11 runs

Twins: 3-7, .244 batting average, 5.60 ERA, outscored by eight runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (undisclosed), Kent Emanuel: (elbow), Pedro Baez: (right shoulder), Yuli Gurriel: (neck), Alex Bregman: (hamstring).

Twins: Cody Stashak: (back), Devin Smeltzer: (elbow), Taylor Rogers: (finger), Derek Law: (shoulder), Luke Farrell: (oblique), Randy Dobnak: (finger), Edwar Colina: (elbow), Rob Refsnyder: (hamstring), Alex Kirilloff: (wrist), Kyle Garlick: (hernia), Byron Buxton: (hand).

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