After posting two of their most important victories of the season to date, the visiting Houston Astros will look to earn a pivotal series sweep of the floundering Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon.
With 13 games left in the regular season, Houston (81-68) is tied with the Seattle Mariners atop the American League West, while holding a two-game lead over the Texas Rangers. The Astros, who have won three of their last four, have seen Seattle win eight straight and Texas win six in a row, leaving little room for error in the postseason chase.
Helping its odds the last two nights, Houston has picked up a pair of road wins over Atlanta — including a 6-2 victory on Saturday. After mustering just two hits in a shutout loss against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday, the Astros have battered the Braves for 17 runs on 23 hits through the series’ first two games — a trend manager Joe Espada hopes to see prolonged in the series finale.
“It’s important that we carry over our momentum offensively,” Espada said. “That’s something we’ve been trying to do and we accomplished that (Saturday). Just controlling our at-bats, when you have a pitcher on the ropes, you control that momentum, you control the pitches you want to swing at. When we do that, we’re able to get pitchers out of the game in the fourth, fifth inning.”
Looking to help the Astros complete their first sweep since taking three from the Arizona Diamondbacks from July 21-23, Framber Valdez (12-9, 3.42 ERA) is slated to make his 29th start of the year. Last time out, Valdez allowed four runs (three earned) across seven innings in a 4-2 defeat to the Texas Rangers on Sept. 7.
In his lone career start against Atlanta, the 31-year-old left-hander threw seven innings of three-run ball in a 6-3 victory on April 22, 2023.
Astros second baseman Jose Altuve’s availability is unclear after he left Saturday’s game in third inning because of right foot discomfort. Espada said he took Altuve out of the game as a precaution. Altuve declined to be interviewed after the game.
For the majority of the season, Atlanta (65-83) has had little for which to play outside of trying to build momentum for 2026. The Braves are mired in a four-game losing streak, and having gone 4-11 in their last 15 games.
Joey Wentz (5-6, 5.61) — a player Atlanta would not have anticipated before the season of making September starts — can help the Braves salvage the series on Sunday. The team is hoping to avoid its first series sweep since the Milwaukee Brewers won three in a row in Atlanta from Aug. 4-6.
Wentz joined the pitching staff in July after the Pittsburgh Pirates and Minnesota Twins each designated the 27-year-old for assignment. He struggled in his last outing, surrendering eight runs (six earned) in just 2 1/3 innings in an 18-2 loss to Seattle.
“I don’t think I really earned the right for anything to go my way,” said Wentz, who is 3-5 with a 4.76 ERA in 11 appearances (10 starts) with Atlanta.
In three career outings (one start) against the Astros, Wentz is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in five innings.
–Field Level Media
