Houston Astros face Cincinnati Reds in three-game series opener on Friday – MLB News
The Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros will have the opening of their three-game series on Friday, September 7. While the Reds occupy first position in the National League Central, the Astros are at the bottom, struggling a great deal since the start of the season.
Reds have had a tremendous record after the All-Star break even though they did not have the likes of Joey Votto in the line-up. The accomplished first-baseman has been out of action since he had undergone surgery on his left knee.
Cincinnati have a 36-17 record since the All-Star break. Facing the Reds are the Astros which have a record of 42-95 this season. The pace with which things have gone for them, apparently the games Houston Astros lost may go well above 100.
The Reds will bring Homer Bailey to start the game of Friday, confronted by Lucas Harrell. The fact that the rotation and bullpen have performed extraordinarily well throughout this season have given a unique position to the Reds in the National League Central and the NL as a whole.
With 83-55 record, the Reds have a lot to take pride in. The last game Bailey had, on the other hand, was equally good for the starter wherein – in eight innings, he gave up just one run coupled with three hits.
"Homer pitched great [Saturday night]," manager Dusty Baker had said after the end of the game. "He got out of trouble at the end there. He reached back and got some more."
On the other hand, the Astros' shortstop Jed Lowrie is not sure when he will return in the line-up but hopes he will be there soon enough.
He said, "I guess I don't know an exact date, but what I can say is I'm taking batting practice on the field for a couple of days now and doing a lot of running, and hopefully get into some baserunning and test it running around the curves in more game-like situations.”
It will be interesting to see if the Cincinnati Reds comfortably edge past the Astros, or if Houston will put up some decent resistance to stop the winning march of their opponents.
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