Oakland @ Houston preview
Minute Maid Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 13, 2023 ) Oakland 2, Houston 6
Even with their victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, the Houston Astros remain 10 games under .500 and desperately need a long string of victories to build something resembling significant momentum.
To that end, the Astros should view the bounce-back performance delivered by veteran right-hander Justin Verlander on Sunday as a microcosm of their greater overall hopes.
Verlander twirled seven shutout innings in a 9-3 victory over the Tigers in Detroit that enabled the Astros to complete a six-game road trip at 3-3. They are riding high in their return to Houston for a season-long 10-game homestand, which begins Monday against the Oakland Athletics.
Verlander was shelled by the New York Yankees in his previous start last Tuesday, allowing three home runs for the 20th time in 513 starts and seven earned runs for the first time since July 2, 2017, at Cleveland while with Detroit. He surrendered two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts against the Tigers on Sunday.
"There's a benefit to having been through a lot of bad starts and not-too-successful times in your career," Verlander said. "You have a lot of stuff to draw on from the past and you know what you need to do to fix it."
Rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti (0-4, 8.44 ERA) is scheduled to start the series opener for the Astros. He allowed five runs on a career-worst eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts over five innings in a 9-4 loss to the Yankees in New York on Wednesday.
While the five runs represent the most he has allowed since the seven runs he surrendered in his big league debut on April 10 against the Kansas City Royals, Arrighetti has recorded at least 15 outs in each of his last two starts.
Arrighetti will face the Athletics for the first time in his career.
Right-hander Ross Stripling (1-6, 5.14) has the starting assignment for the Athletics.
After tossing six shutout innings in a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 1, Stripling allowed a season-high 11 runs (five earned) on 10 hits and two walks with two strikeouts over 1 2/3 innings in a 15-8 loss to the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. It marked the fewest innings Stripling has worked this season and the second time he's allowed 10-plus hits in a start in 2024.
Stripling is 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA over four career starts against the Astros. In his previous appearance against Houston, Stripling allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts over five innings and did not factor into the decision of a 7-3 loss on May 1, 2023, while with the San Francisco Giants.
Oakland left fielder Brent Rooker continued his torrid month on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game set against the Seattle Mariners, finishing 2-for-4 with a two-run homer -- his 10th -- in an 8-4 road loss. Rooker entered the series finale with a .441/.525/.882 slash line in May and now has five homers and 14 RBIs in 10 games this month.
"Again, this is the maturation of Brent, a follow-up from last year with the success he had," Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said, referring to Rooker's All-Star nod in 2023. "The at-bats (Sunday) were great. He's seeing the ball really well and he's taking a great swing."
--Field Level Media