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Astros face Diamondbacks on Friday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 10/2/2015  at  6:45:00 AM
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HOUSTON ASTROS (87-72)

at ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS (78-81)

First pitch: Friday, 9:40 p.m. ET
Line: Houston -175, Arizona +165, Total: 8.5

The Astros continue to fight for a spot in the wild card game when they face the Diamondbacks on Friday.

The Astros have won four of their past five games and will be looking to stay hot when they travel to Arizona for their final series of the year. Houston has a one-game lead for the second wild card spot in the AL and will be looking to hold onto that for just a bit longer. The Diamondbacks, however, have not gone away this season. Arizona has been out of the playoff race for a long time, but this is one of the most competitive teams in baseball. The Diamondbacks have won four straight games heading into this one and will be looking to end this year on a positive note. The starters in this game are going to be LHP Dallas Keuchel (19-8, 2.47 ERA, 213 K) for the Astros and RHP Rubby De La Rosa (14-8, 4.56 ERA, 146 K) for the Diamondbacks. Houston is an impressive 14-3 against the money line against NL West opponents this season. Arizona, meanwhile, is 16-8 against the money line in night games with De La Rosa starting on the year. SS Jed Lowrie (Quad) is questionable for the Astros and OF David Peralta (Wrist) is likely to miss this game for the Diamondbacks.

The Astros will be looking to keep their lead in the AL wild card race on Friday and there aren’t many guys they’d prefer on the mound over Dallas Keuchel. The Houston starter has been outstanding recently, allowing one earned run in each of his past two starts and striking out 16 batters in those 14.2 innings of work. The last time Keuchel pitched against the Diamondbacks, he allowed two earned runs while striking out eight batters in six innings. The Astros won that game 9-2 on Aug. 1 and they’ll be hoping for a similar result on Friday. 1B Chris Carter (.196, 24 HR, 62 RBI) is going to be a key player in this game. Carter hit a three-run homer on Thursday and he has had success against De La Rosa in his career. He is 2-for-2 with a homer and two RBI against him in their brief history. Another guy who has given De La Rosa a lot of trouble is 1B/OF Marwin Gonzalez (.274, 12 HR, 34 RBI). Gonzalez is 4-for-5 against the Arizona starter, but he does not have any RBI in the matchup. He’ll be looking to change that on Friday.

Rubby De La Rosa has looked very good his past two trips to the mound, allowing just two earned runs while striking out seven batters in his past 11.1 innings. He has faced the Astros just once on the season and allowed four earned runs in six innings of work despite giving up eight hits and two homers. He’ll need to be a bit sharper in this one, as he was lucky to escape with just four earned. 1B Paul Goldschmidt (.317, 31 HR, 107 RBI) has been hitting very well recently, going 3-for-6 with three runs scored and an RBI over the past two games. He is, however, just 1-for-10 with no homers and no RBI against Keuchel. He’ll need to find a way to get a hit or two in this game. One guy who has had some success against the Houston ace is 2B Aaron Hill (.229, 6 HR, 37 RBI). Hill is 4-for-11 with a homer and two RBI against him in his career. He is an x-factor in this one, as anything he provides offensively is a huge bonus for the team.


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