HOUSTON ASTROS (39-37)

at LOS ANGELES ANGELS (32-44)

First pitch: Monday, 10:05 p.m. ET
Line: Houston +105, Los Angeles -115, Total: 7.5

Houston will be looking to win its tenth game in its past twelve when the team goes to Los Angeles to play the Angels on Monday.

The Astros got their seven-game win steak snapped yesterday in Kansas City. Their win streak that just ended included a three-game-sweep of the Angels last week. That sweep pushed them to 5-1 in the season series against Los Angeles. Houston, meanwhile, was scoring runs in bunches over the weekend, when in two out of the three games they team scored thirteen runs. Despite the Astros’ current surge, they are still ten games back of Texas in the AL West. Tonight Houston will have RHP Collin McHugh (5-5, 4.70 ERA, 79 K) on the mound. The Angels also ended a streak on Sunday, but theirs was a six-game losing streak. This season has not gone Los Angeles’ way. They have a 32-44 record and are last in the AL West standings. Even though Houston has the edge in the season series this year, over the past three seasons the Angels have gone 15-8 at home against the Astros. Tonight, with RHP Matt Shoemaker (3-8, 4.43 ERA, 84 K) starting, the Angels look to make it two wins in a row.

Houston, as a team, has been hot at the plate over the last seven days (.303). The hitting has been led by 2B Jose Altuve (.347, 13 HR, 44 RBI), who is hitting .395 in June. Altuve also has great stats against LA this season (.455, 2 HR, 4 RBI) and against Shoemaker for his career (.429, 2 HR, 2 RBI). OF Colby Rasmus (.246, 10 HR, 39 RBI) has been hot over the last seven days as well, hitting .455 with one homer and three RBI. Rasmus is also hitting .455 against the Angels this year. SS Carlos Correa (.261, 12 HR, 42 RBI) has collected nine RBIs in the last six games. He also has 11 RBIs in the six games against Los Angeles this year. Houston’s starter tonight, Collin McHugh, has been throwing well recently, but has not had much run support to get him wins. His last two outings he gave up two or less runs, but still didn’t come away with a victory. One of those games was last week when he pitched against the Angels and he threw seven innings and gave up just two runs. The team did go on to win the game. McHugh has a 4-2 record with a 2.82 ERA in his career against Los Angeles.

The Angels’ starter, Matt Shoemaker, has struggled this season and will be hoping to turn it around on Monday. Recently he has been having good outings, but he hasn’t picked up wins. In his last three starts he is 0-1 with a 1.69 ERA. In last week’s series with Houston, he threw 7.1 innings and gave up three runs. The team has not played well behind Shoemaker this season, going 4-10 in games that he has started. This game may be settled between the bullpens because both starters have had strings of no-decisions lately. Look for OF Mike Trout (.313, 16 HR, 52 RBI) to have a big night because he has been hot lately, hitting .414 with two homers and five RBI over the last seven days. He also leads the team in BA, HR, RBI, and OBP for the year. DH Albert Pujols (.239, 14 HR, 48 RBI) has also been hot over the last seven days, hitting .318 with two homers and four RBI. Look to see if 1B C.J. Cron (.261, 6 HR, 32 RBI) has a good night at the plate because in last week’s game when McHugh pitched he hit a bomb.