Houston Astros versus the Oakland Athletics Series Preview

GAME 3: Doug Fister (1-3, 5.56) vs. Rich Hill (3-2, 2.42)

If Devenski pitches well on Saturday, and McCullers makes his return soon, Fister could find himself in the bullpen with Feldman.  He has not looked impressive at all this season and gave up seven walks to Seattle hitters in his last start.  He did a good job stranding runners, however, and gave the Astros a chance to win, but he needs to turn in a better performance with more control.  Current A’s batters are hitting .324 against him, so he will need to get better action on his pitches to be effective.

Hill has had a great start to 2016.  The 36-year-old hasn’t given up more than three runs in any of his five starts this year and had 37 strikeouts in 26 innings.  Hill’s game is to keep hitters off-balance constantly with a fairly even split of 90 mph fastballs and 75 mph curves.  In fact, this year, he has thrown more curves than fastballs.  This will be the first meeting between Hill and Astros hitters for the most part, and their plate discipline will surely be challenged in the series finale.

Next: Houston Astros: Corpus Christi Player Spotlight – Cy Sneed

Game Prediction: A’s 6 – Astros 3

The Astros will hopefully carry over their performance in game three of the Seattle series and into Oakland to win consecutive games for the first time this year, and their second season series.  Let’s see if the worst is behind the young ball club.

**Stats from Baseball-Reference**