Astros Live Game Feed: Game 31 Preview

The Astros need their ace to show up in a big way tonight.

GAME 3: Nate Karns (3-1, 3.81) vs. Dallas Keuchel (2-4, 5.11)

Karns has pitched well this year, and Seattle has won each game in his last four starts, three of which he was credited with a win. In his game against the Astros last week, he completely stalled any offense from generating, hurling seven shutout innings and allowing only two hits. Getting 11 runs of support definitely helped his cause. However, the Astros looked absolutely lost at the plate. This time, around he will need to continue to keep hitters off balance with his pitches. One glitch to his game thus far has been giving up the long ball, which he has allowed five of. Look for the Astros to try and put together a better game plan against him and generate better swings.

Keuchel again struggled mightily with his control in his last start, giving up five walks to the Twins, including walking a runner in to score. This has been a horrible start for Keuchel following his Cy Young year, and control has been the main issue. His BB/9 has more than doubled from last year and sits at 4.4. Keuchel has stated in interviews that he does sense frustration and feels bad because the team looks to him for leadership. He has not mentioned anything about an injury or a mechanics issue, so this simply could be a bad stretch or a mental hurdle that he will need to overcome.

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His last three starts have all resulted in losses and have seen his ERA rise from 2.18 to 5.11. Keuchel faced off with Seattle a couple of weeks ago and gave up five runs in six innings of work, and will now look to bounce back at home.

**Statistics provided by MLB.com & Baseball-Reference**