San Francisco @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 30, 2012 ) San Francisco 8, Houston 4
The Houston Astros have been the most surprising team in baseball to this point, and perhaps no two players have exemplified their success more than Dallas Keuchel and Collin McHugh. The latter of those 27-year-old undefeated starting pitchers hopes to extend the longest active winning streak in the majors to 12 when the Astros welcome the San Francisco Giants for the first of two games in Houston on Tuesday.
The Astros (20-12) tied the Minnesota Twins for the second-worst record in the American League last season at 70-92, but have spent every day in first place in the AL West over the last three-plus weeks and boast a five-game lead on the second-place Los Angeles Angels. Houston is 14-2 in McHugh’s last 16 starts and looks to continue along that path against the Giants, who have won 12 of 18. San Francisco wrapped up a 7-3 homestand by splitting a four-game series with Miami and has been getting good pitching for most of May, holding the opposition to two runs or fewer in six of its victories. The Giants scored two in the ninth inning to win 3-2 on Sunday, registering their fourth walk-off victory since opening the season with losses in 10 of their first 14 contests.
TV: 8:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, CSN Bay Area (San Francisco), ROOT (Houston)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Chris Heston (2-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Astros RH Collin McHugh (4-0, 3.23)
After posting a 2-1 record and 0.87 ERA over his first three outings, Heston was roughed up for the second time in three turns on Wednesday, surrendering five runs on 11 hits and three walks in five frames during a 9-1 loss to San Diego. The East Carolina alum, who is 0-2, 6.48 since his strong open to the season, has fared much better against right-handed hitters (.212 batting average) than left-handers (.375). Heston will make his second career interleague start and draw the Astros for the first time.
McHugh remained unbeaten since July 27 in his last outing, settling for a no-decision in Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Angels after yielding two runs over 7 1/3 innings. The Georgia native, who is 11-0 with a 2.31 ERA during his unbeaten streak, has limited to the opposition to three runs or fewer in five of his six turns this season. Despite pitching for the Colorado Rockies and New York Mets from 2012-13, McHugh will face San Francisco for the first time in his career.
WALK-OFFS
1. The series will be the first between the longtime National League West rivals since the Giants took eight of nine meetings in 2012.
2. McHugh had dropped six straight decisions prior to his winning streak.
3. San Francisco has yet to score more than six runs in a game and ranks second-to-last in the NL overall with 101 runs, but is an NL-best 9-3 in one-run contests.
PREDICTION: Astros 5, Giants 3