Astros and Twins meet to decide series winner

Minnesota Twins (32-26, third in the AL Central) at Houston Astros (26-33, third in the AL West)

Houston; Sunday, 1:05 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABILITIES: Twins: Simeon Woods Richardson (2-0, 2.70 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 30 strikeouts); Astros: Hunter Brown (1-5, 6.39 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 53 strikeouts)

BOTTOM LINE: The Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins meet Sunday and the winner takes the three-game series.

Houston is 26-33 overall and 15-16 at home. Astros hitters have a collective .415 slugging percentage to rank sixth in the MLB.

Minnesota is 16-13 on the road and 32-26 overall. The Twins are 21-2 in games when they score five or more runs.

Sunday’s game is the third time these teams have met this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Yordan Alvarez has 11 doubles, 11 homers and 25 RBIs while hitting .283 for the Astros. Mauricio Dubon is 12 for 29 with a double and a home run over the last 10 games.

Willi Castro leads the Twins with a .260 batting average and has 12 doubles, four triples, four home runs, 19 walks and 16 RBIs. Jose Miranda is 9 for 34 with a home run and six RBIs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Astros: 4-6, .228 batting average, 2.48 ERA, one-run opponents

Twins: 7-3, .225 batting average, 3.54 ERA, one-run opponents

INJURIES: Astros: Cristian Javier: 15-day IL (forearm), Oliver Ortega: 60-day IL (elbow), Bennett Sousa: 60-day IL (shoulder), Penn Murfee: 60-day IL (elbow), Luis Garcia: 60-day IL (elbow), Lance McCullers Jr.: 60-day IL (elbow), Jose Urquidy: 15-day IL (forearm), Kendall Graveman: 60-day IL (elbow)

Twins: Justin Topa: 60 day IL (knee), Brock Stewart: 15 day IL (shoulder), Daniel Duarte: 60 day IL (triceps), Zack Weiss: 60 day IL (shoulder), Royce Lewis: 10 -Day IL (quadriceps), Anthony DeSclafani: 60 days IL (elbow)

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