Kikuchi scheduled to start for Seattle against Houston

Seattle Mariners (66-56, third in AL West) vs. Houston Astros (71-50, first in AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Mariners: Yusei Kikuchi (7-6, 3.75 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 140 strikeouts) Astros: Lance McCullers Jr. (9-4, 3.22 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 136 strikeouts)

LINE: Astros -194, sailors +165; Over / Under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Houston and Seattle meet on Friday.

The Astros are 37-23 in their homeland. Houston has made 157 home runs as a team this season. Jose Altuve leads the club at 25, averaging one every 17.8 at-bats.

The Mariners are 29-31 on their way. Seattle’s line-up has 152 homers this season, with Mitch Haniger leading the club with 27 homers.

The Astros won the last meeting 11-4. Jake Odorizzi took his fourth win and Yuli Gurriel went 3-for-6 with a double, a home run and three RBIs for Houston. Yusei Kikuchi suffered his sixth loss for Seattle.

TOP PERFORMERS: Altuve leads the Astros with 25 homers and has 67 RBI.

Kyle Seager leads the Mariners with 48 additional base hits and 78 RBI.

LAST 10 MATCHES: Astros: 5-5, .272 batting average, 3.10 ERA, outperformed opponents by 13 runs

Mariners: 8-2, .227 batting average, 2.52 ERA, outperformed opponents by 11 runs

INJURIES: Astros: Justin Verlander: (elbow), Jose Urquidy: (arm), Andre Scrubb: (shoulder), Enoli Paredes: (shoulder), Rafael Montero: (shoulder), Tyler Ivey: (not known), Kent Emanuel: (Elbow), Kyle Tucker: (Covid-19), Alex Bregman: (thigh).

Seafarers: Justus Sheffield: (not known), James Paxton: (left forearm), Ljay Newsome: (elbow), Andres Munoz: (elbow), Nick Margevicius: (shoulder), Ken Giles: (elbow), Justin Dunn: ( Shoulder.)), Shed Long Jr .: (shins), Kyle Lewis: (knees), Sam Haggerty: (shoulder), Evan White: (hips).

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