Twins begin 3-game series with the Astros

Audio By Carbonatix

Houston Astros (19-29, fourth in the AL West) vs. Minnesota Twins (21-26, third in the AL Central)

Minneapolis; Monday, 7:40 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Astros: Tatsuya Imai (1-1, 9.24 ERA, 2.05 WHIP, 16 strikeouts); Twins: Kendry Rojas (1-0, 2.45 ERA, 2.18 WHIP, eight strikeouts)

LINE: Twins -115, Astros -105; over/under is 9 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The Minnesota Twins open a three-game series at home against the Houston Astros on Monday.

Minnesota is 21-26 overall and 13-13 in home games. Twins hitters have a collective .384 slugging percentage to rank sixth in the AL.

Houston has a 19-29 record overall and a 7-15 record on the road. The Astros have the fourth-best team batting average in MLB play at .250.

The teams meet Monday for the first time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Byron Buxton has 15 home runs, 13 walks and 23 RBIs while hitting .260 for the Twins. Austin Martin is 11 for 38 with three doubles and four RBIs over the past 10 games.

Isaac Paredes has seven doubles, four home runs and 18 RBIs for the Astros. Yordan Alvarez is 10 for 33 with two doubles and three home runs over the past 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 5-5, .244 batting average, 3.00 ERA, outscored opponents by four runs

Astros: 4-6, .207 batting average, 3.94 ERA, outscored by 14 runs

INJURIES: Twins: Byron Buxton: day-to-day (hip), Garrett Acton: 15-Day IL (shoulder), Cole Sands: 15-Day IL (forearm), Mick Abel: 15-Day IL (elbow), Cody Laweryson: 15-Day IL (forearm), Taj Bradley: 15-Day IL (pectoral), David Festa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Pablo Lopez: 60-Day IL (elbow)

Astros: Jose Altuve: 10-Day IL (side), Jeremy Pena: 10-Day IL (knee), Joey Loperfido: 10-Day IL (quadricep), Hunter Brown: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Bennett Sousa: 15-Day IL (elbow), Carlos Correa: 10-Day IL (ankle), Yainer Diaz: 10-Day IL (abdominal), Jake Meyers: 10-Day IL (oblique), Nate Pearson: 15-Day IL (elbow), Taylor Trammell: 10-Day IL (groin), Cristian Javier: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Brandon Walter: 60-Day IL (elbow), Ronel Blanco: 60-Day IL (elbow), Josh Hader: 60-Day IL (biceps), Hayden Wesneski: 60-Day IL (elbow)

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.