First pitch: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Houston -125, New York +115, Total: 8.5

The Yankees will be looking to get back into the win column with a win over the Astros on Friday.

The Astros and Yankees have been two of the best teams in baseball this season, so fans will be treated to a special night at Yankee Stadium on Friday. The Astros took the first game in this series, winning 3-2 behind an excellent outing from LHP Dallas Keuchel. The Yankees have now lost two straight coming into this one, and they’ll be hoping to get back on track here. The starters in this Friday night matchup will be RHP Lance McCullers Jr. (2-1, 3.40 ERA, 50 K) for Houston and LHP Jordan Montgomery (2-1, 3.81 ERA, 26 K) for New York. Both guys have been fantastic this season, so this could be an interesting battle on the mound. Over the last three seasons, the Astros are 5-3 against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Five of those eight games have gone Over the total. Houston is 23-8 against the money line as a favorite of -110 or higher this season. The Astros are, however, facing a Yankees team that is 40-20 against the money line in home games in night games over the past two seasons.

The Astros picked up an impressive victory in New York on Thursday, and Lance McCullers Jr. will now try to shut down the Yankees on Friday. The righty has been great this season, allowing two or fewer earned runs in four of his seven starts. He continues to miss bats at an impressive rate, striking out just over seven batters per game. He’ll need to keep his pitches down in this one, though. It’s incredibly easy to hit homers in Yankee Stadium, and with his pitch velocity it won’t take much contact for the Yankees to take advantage of his mistakes. Offensively, SS Carlos Correa (.282 BA, 5 HR, 19 RBI) showed his ability to take advantage of the short porch in right field on Thursday. He went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI in that game, and he would really spark his team if he can do so again. He is on fire coming into this one, as he has seen his average rise from .226 on May 2 to .282 on May 11. 2B Jose Altuve (.294 BA, 5 HR, 15 RBI) will also have a chance to spark his team here. His average is a bit down this season, but a hot streak is clearly coming soon for the 27-year-old. That just might begin on Friday.

The Yankees have lost two straight games heading into Friday and Jordan Montgomery is going to do his best to prevent that streak from reaching three. The lefty has been great for New York this season, allowing three or fewer earned runs in all five of his starts. He doesn’t have the best stuff in the world, but he pitches effectively to contact. It is, however, important that Montgomery keeps his walks down in this one. He has walked eight batters over his past two starts, and that is not going to cut it in this one. Offensively, the Yankees are going to be hoping that OF Aaron Judge (.308 BA, 13 HR, 28 RBI) and C Gary Sanchez (.262 BA, 2 HR, 7 RBI) can bring in some runs on Friday. Judge hasn’t homered in five games for New York, which almost seems like a long amount of time with the way he has hit this season. Sanchez, meanwhile, is pretty hot since returning to the lineup.