Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros play in game 2 of series

Pittsburgh Pirates (54-52, second in the NL Central) vs. Houston Astros (55-51, first in the AL West)

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

PITCHING PROBABLES: Pirates: Bailey Falter (4-7, 4.08 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 61 strikeouts); Astros: Hunter Brown (9-6, 4.00 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 118 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates take a 1-0 advantage into the next game of the series against the Houston Astros.

Houston is 55-51 overall and 30-23 in home games. The Astros have a 45-16 record in games when they have more hits than their opponents.

Pittsburgh is 28-26 in road games and 54-52 overall. The Pirates have a 34-7 record in games when they scored five or more runs.

The matchup Tuesday is the second time these teams match up this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez has 25 doubles, two triples and 20 home runs for the Astros. Yainer Diaz is 12-for-38 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and eight RBI over the past 10 games.

Bryan Reynolds leads Pittsburgh with 18 home runs while slugging .483. Oneil Cruz is 12-for-39 with three home runs and 10 RBI over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 5-5, .257 batting average, 3.93 ERA, even run differential

Pirates: 6-4, .236 batting average, 3.34 ERA, outscored opponents by one run

INJURIES: Astros: Jake Bloss: day-to-day (undisclosed), Justin Verlander: 15-Day IL (neck), Cristian Javier: 60-Day IL (forearm), Kyle Tucker: 10-Day IL (shin), 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)

Pirates: Joshua Palacios: day-to-day (hamstring), Ji-Hwan Bae: day-to-day (knee), Nick Gonzales: 10-Day IL (undisclosed), Daulton Jefferies: 15-Day IL (elbow), Jared Jones: 15-Day IL (lat), Ryan Borucki: 60-Day IL (tricep), Dauri Moreta: 60-Day IL (elbow), Endy Rodriguez: 60-Day IL (elbow), Johan Oviedo: 60-Day IL (elbow)

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

The Associated Press