Houston Astros vrs Colorado Rockies Series Preview

Jun 9, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel (60) throws a pitch against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning at U.S Cellular Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros are going to be playing in an unusual Inter-league series versus the Colorado Rockies starting Monday. Playing the Rockies is not the unusual part, they will be playing a home-away series against the Rockies. They will be playing two games in Houston, and then fly to Colorado and play two games there. You have to love the MLB schedulers, and they tend to make things interesting.

If the schedule makers are anything like high school counselors should you complain at all about the class load/schedule, you can expect a worse one the next year. So the Astros will say goodbye and hi to the Rockies after the second game. For the sake of this post, let’s treat this as one series. Before we look at the Rockies series, let’s look at the Mariners series where the Astros won it two games to one.

Before we look at the Rockies series, let’s look at the Mariners series where the Astros won it two games to one.

Game 1: Astros win 10-0. The Astros Unload on King Feliz for Eight runs in 1/3 Innings

Game 2: Mariners win 8-1. Collin McHugh struggles in Astros loss to Mariners

Game 3: Astros win 13-0. Astros’ Lance McCullers lights out in series win over Seattle

Summary of the Weekend Series

The Teams

The Houston Astros are 36-28 on the season.

Home: 21-14 Record (Scored 139 runs and allowed 127 runs)

Away: 15-14 Record (Scored 134 runs and allowed 119 runs)

Last ten games: 2-8

The Colorado Rockies are 28-34 on the season.

Home: 13-18 Record (Scored 161 runs and allowed 175 runs)

Away: 15-16 Record (Scored 108 runs and allowed  129 runs)

Last ten games: 4-6

The Pitching Matchups

Game 1: Chad Bettis (2-1, 3.05 ERA) versus Dallas Keuchel (7-2, 1.90 ERA)

• On the Road, Bettis is 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA while striking out ten hitters in 13 innings.
• At Home, Keuchel is 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA while striking out 46 hitters in 49 innings.

Game 2: Chris Rusin (2-1, 3.38 ERA) versus Vincent Velasquez (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

• On the Road, Rusin is 1-1 with a 3.71 ERA while striking out eight hitters in 17 innings.
• At Home, Velasquez has not pitched. He has five strikeouts in 5 innings

Game 3: Brett Oberholtzer (1-1, 2.25 ERA) versus Kyle Kendrick (2-8, 5.87 ERA)

• At Home, Kendrick is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA while striking out 15 hitters in 30.2 innings.
• On the Road, Oberholtzer is 0-1 with 4.91 ERA while striking out two hitters in 3.2 innings.

Game 4: Collin McHugh (6-3, 5.08 ERA) versus David Hale (2-1, 4.56 ERA)

• At Home, Hale is 2-0 with a 4.12 ERA while striking out 14 hitters in 19.2 innings.
• On the Road, McHugh is 2-1 with 3.77 ERA while striking out 29 hitters in 45.1 innings.

More from Climbing Tal's Hill

• Just how much better is the Houston Astros playoff rotation than the rest?
• Houston Astros: A Lineup Change to Spark Offense
• Astros prospect Hunter Brown throws 6 shutout innings in debut
• Always faithful Astros World Series champion Josh Reddick defends the title
• Michael Conforto declines Astros’ 2-year, $30 million offer

Houston Astros Player News

• George Springer is hitting .380 with 1 HR and 4 RBI in June.
• Evan Gattis is coming off a game where he went 4 for 5
• Jose Altuve is still day to day with hamstring issues but has been working on his plastic cup stacking while sitting on the bench.
• McHugh is coming off one of his worst starts in his Astros career, giving up eight runs in three innings. I wrote about McHugh here.
• Carlos Correa has hit two homers in his first six MLB games.
• Luis Valbuena is leading the Astros with 14 homers and 33 runs scored but is batting .185.

Colorado Rockies Player News.

• Troy Tulowitzki after a slow start, has hit .368 in his last ten games with three homers and 12 RBI’s.
• Carlos Gonzalez has hit .308 with three homers and 7 RBI’s in the last ten games.
• Nolan Arenado has 16 homers this season.
• Outfielder Corey Dickerson has returned from the DL
• John Axford has a .47 ERA with 12 saves.

Next: Q&A Session with Rox Pile (Rockies Fansided Site)