Alvarez and the Astros Look to Feast on a Struggling Angels Squad
Two teams trending in opposite directions meet Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, with Houston (53-55) trying to claw back toward relevance against a Los Angeles Angels club (42-65) that has made a habit of losing this season. There's no model read to anchor this one, but the raw numbers tell a story worth paying attention to.
Peter Lambert is expected to take the mound for Houston, while Reid Detmers is set to start for the Angels — two pitchers whose performances tonight could either tighten or widen the gap between these franchises. The Astros are a team that feels like it should be better than .491 ball, and a matchup against a 42-65 Angels squad is exactly the kind of spot where Houston needs to collect wins if it has any designs on a late-season push. The Angels, meanwhile, have been one of baseball's most disappointing teams by record, and tonight's home crowd at Angel Stadium deserves something to cheer about.
The player to watch on the Houston side isn't a mystery — it's Yordan Alvarez, full stop. He's hitting .323 with 34 home runs and 78 RBI, numbers that put him firmly in the conversation for the game's most dangerous hitter. When Alvarez is locked in, opposing pitching staffs have no clean answer, and Detmers will need to be sharp to keep him in the ballpark. On the Angels' side, the offensive load is more distributed. Nolan Schanuel leads the club at .280, Zach Neto has 19 home runs, and Jo Adell has driven in 60 runs — respectable individual numbers on a team that hasn't been able to put it all together consistently enough to win.
Our model doesn't have a validated read on this game, so we're not going to manufacture a lean out of thin air. What we can say is this: the Angels' record speaks for itself, and Houston — despite its own underwhelming season — carries a lineup headlined by one of the most productive hitters in baseball. Alvarez alone makes the Astros dangerous in any single game. Whether Lambert can give Houston enough innings to let that offense do its work is the real question. First pitch is 9:38 PM ET on ESPN Unlmtd and MLB.TV.