Miley Goes After His First Victory With Baltimore
Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland
The Baltimore Orioles slugged six homers in the series opener and look to continue their offensive assault when they host the fading Houston Astros on Friday night. Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy each went deep twice in Thursday's 13-5 victory as the Orioles pulled within 1 ½ games of Toronto in the American League East and moved into a tie with Boston for the top wild-card spot.
Mark Trumbo belted his major league-leading 35th homer as well for the Baltimore, which leads baseball with 183 blasts and has an AL-best 40 home wins. Houston starter Collin McHugh will try to cool off the Orioles as the Astros attempt to end a five-game losing streak that has put a halt to their playoff run. Left-hander Wade Miley goes after his first victory with Baltimore and must keep AL MVP candidate Jose Altuve under control. The talented second baseman is 11-for-18 with a homer in his career against Miley.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), MASN 2 (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Astros RH Collin McHugh (7-10, 4.70 ERA) vs. Orioles LH Wade Miley (7-10, 5.23)
McHugh has lost four straight outings despite recording quality starts in two of them. The 29-year-old gave up three runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings at Toronto last time out and is 3-6 with a 5.23 ERA on the road in 2016. Trumbo is 3-for-5 versus McHugh, who is 1-0 with a 4.74 ERA in four starts against Baltimore after a no-decision on May 25 when he allowed three runs in 5 1/3 frames with 10 strikeouts.
Miley is winless in three starts since being acquired from Seattle, permitting 13 runs (12 earned) on 22 hits over 15 1/3 innings. The 29-year-old was pounded for seven runs in 4 1/3 frames last time out, but was held out of the decision against San Francisco. Miley is 0-1 in two starts against Houston this season despite yielding four runs in 12 2/3 innings, and is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in six career games versus the Astros.
WALK-OFFS
1. Houston 3B Alex Bregman went 2-for-38 in his first 10 major league games and is 16-for-52 with two homers and eight RBIs since.
2. Four of Davis' last five hits were homers and he is three away from his fourth season with at least 30 blasts in the last five campaigns.
3. Astros 1B A.J. Reed has recorded at least two hits in four of his last seven games, including a homer in Friday's contest.
PREDICTION: Astros 6, Orioles 4
