Mets face Astros in first of three-game series

Houston Astros (40-40, second in AL West) at New York Mets (39-39, third in NL East)

New York; Friday, 7:10 p.m. EDT

Pitching Probabilities: Astros: Ronel Blanco (8-2, 2.34 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 79 strikeouts); Mets: Jose Quintana (3-5, 4.58 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 58 strikeouts)

: LINE Astros -117, Mets -103; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: The New York Mets begin a three-game home series against the Houston Astros on Friday.

New York is 39-39 overall and 20-23 at home. The Mets are 18-10 in games without a home run.

Houston is 16-21 on the road and 40-40 overall. Astros hitters have a collective .421 slugging percentage, which ranks sixth in MLB.

The teams meet on Friday for the first time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Brandon Nimmo has 13 doubles, two triples, 12 homers and 46 RBIs for the Mets. Mark Vientos is 11-for-40 with a double and four homers over the last 10 games.

Jose Altuve is the Astros’ leading hitter with a .303 batting average and has 16 doubles, 12 home runs, 21 walks and 35 RBIs. Alex Bregman has 14 hits in 42 at-bats with two RBIs over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Mets: 8-2, .319 batting average, 3.58 ERA, opponents scored by 38 runs

Astros: 8-2, .294 batting average, 3.54 ERA, opponents scored by 21 runs

INJURIES: Mets: Drew Smith: 15-day IL (elbow), Starling Marte: 10-day IL (knee), Sean Reid-Foley: 15-day IL (shoulder), Shintaro Fujinami: 60-day IL (shoulder), Brooks Raley: 15-day IL (elbow), Kodai Senga: 60-day IL (shoulder), Ronny Mauricio: 60-day IL (knee)

Astros: Jake Bloss: 15-day IL (shoulder), Victor Caratini: 10-day IL (hip), Justin Verlander: 15-day IL (neck), Cristian Javier: 60-day IL (forearm), Kyle Tucker : 10 -Day IL (shin), Jose Urquidy: 60 days IL (forearm), Oliver Ortega: 60 days IL (elbow), Bennett Sousa: 60 days IL (shoulder), Penn Murfee: 60 days IL (elbow) , Luis Garcia: 60-day IL (elbow), Lance McCullers Jr.: 60-day IL (elbow), Kendall Graveman: 60-day IL (elbow)

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