The Astros and Padres both come into Friday night playing pretty well right now, and the records show it. Houston sits at 59-57, San Diego at 60-56, basically identical records, as they head into their first series matchup of the season.
Houston started the second half of the season 0-3, and it looked like the rest of the season would be downhill from there, but they completely flipped the script, going 12-3 in an outstanding stretch since.
Over the past 15 days, the Astros have scored the fifth-most runs in all of baseball (65) and posted the third-best batting average in the league (.284), per Yahoo Sports. That's a serious turnaround for a team that didn't exactly start the second half looking sharp, or the first half either.
San Diego's been just as hot. They're on a four-game winning streak and have gone 10-3 in their last 13.
Tonight it's Ronel Blanco for Houston against Robbie Ray, making his Padres debut. San Diego got Ray from the Giants at the deadline, sending prospects Miguel Mendez and Joniel Hernandez up the California coast to San Francisco, per MLB. Ray's a 2021 AL Cy Young winner and two-time All-Star, currently 10-6 with a 3.08 ERA and 107 strikeouts, per MLB. Ray will pose a real challenge for the Astros, and they'll need to stay patient at the plate against him.
San Diego's lineup isn't easy to deal with either. Manny Machado just had his best month of the year in July, hitting .292 with 7 home runs and 19 RBI, and Fernando Tatis has been hot for weeks, per Yahoo Sports. The Padres are chasing a Wild Card spot too, one game back of Arizona and two back of Philadelphia, a strikingly similar position to Houston's own, which makes them just as motivated to take this series.
Houston's still in first place in the AL West, but that lead is down to just 1.5 games over Texas and 3.0 over Seattle. Every game matters right now if they want to hold onto that spot.
This is a close matchup between two teams playing well right now, the real question is whether Blanco can find some length against a tougher arm in Ray. Houston's been finding ways to win lately, and Friday night is a good chance to keep that going.
