Since winning the final five games of a season-opening seven-game homestand, the Astros have not won more than two games in a row.
That served as a factor in their inability to gain ground in the American League West despite four of the five teams entering Friday with sub-.500 records.
After squandering an opportunity to close the gap on the Seattle Mariners earlier this week, the Astros rebounded from dropping three contests of that four-game set by defeating the Texas Rangers 2-0 in the opener of that three-game series.
Houston will host Texas in a rematch on Saturday.
The Astros have struggled blending good pitching with quality hitting, and while their bats did little to support the no-hit bid of starter Spencer Arrighetti, a series-opening win was claimed.
“A little more urgency out of both sides of the ball,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I think it’s important for us to set the tone early. We need to come out and put pressure on this team from the very beginning.
“We just need to get going and keep that fire for weeks.”
Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng (1-3, 3.12 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Astros on Saturday. It will mark the third start and 16th appearance for Teng, who is making a bid for a spot in the rotation following a pair of outings as an opener.
Teng allowed three runs on five hits and one walk with one strikeout in three innings in a 5-0 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday. He also worked three innings in a start against the Baltimore Orioles on April 28, and allowed two runs on five hits with two strikeouts in a 5-3 loss. He is 0-2 with a 7.50 ERA as a starter.
Teng will make his first career appearance against the Rangers.
Right-hander Jacob deGrom (3-2, 2.62 ERA) is scheduled to start the middle contest of the three-game series for the Rangers. He has allowed one or zero runs in six of seven starts since April 6, including working seven shutout innings against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, allowing three hits with 10 strikeouts in a 3-0 victory.
deGrom is second in the AL, averaging 11.49 strikeouts per nine innings and third with a 0.92 WHIP.
He is 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA in four career starts against the Astros, all coming last season. In his previous start against the Astros on Sept. 17, deGrom allowed five runs on six hits — including two home runs — and one walk with six strikeouts across five innings in a 5-2 road loss.
Rangers shortstop Corey Seager was given the series opener off with another day on the bench likely coming soon. Seager is mired in a 0-for-27 slump with 11 strikeouts across seven games, the longest career hitless spans by both games and at-bats for the three-time Silver Slugger.
“I honestly hope he doesn’t swing a lot,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I think a lot of the guys we’ve given off days to, they have done it the right way, where they don’t overswing or overwork. It’s more of a sit and observe. Be a really good teammate and watch video and tweak different things.
“The dangerous part of anybody is if they try early (batting practice) and extra work in the cages and try to swing your way out of it with thousands of swings. I know Corey won’t do that, but I think that’s the dangerous part of a lot of guys that get off days.”
–Field Level Media
