The Houston Astros begin their 6-game Western swing with a set against the Angels

When or: Friday at 8:38 p.m., Saturday at 9:07 p.m., Sunday at 3:07 p.m.; Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.

Radio: 790 AM, 93.3 FM (Spanish), 1010 AM (Spanish).

Pitchers: LHP Framber Valdez (4-3, 3.95) vs. RHP Griffin Canning (2-5, 4.69 ERA); Saturday, RHP Hunter Brown (1-5, 6.18) vs. LHP Tyler Anderson (5-5, 2.37 ERA); Sunday, RHP Justin Verlander (3-2, 3.63) vs. LHP Patrick Sandoval (2-8, 5.00 ERA).

Astros Update (28-35): Houston, which is 8-10 since winning six straight May 12-17, sits 7½ games behind Seattle in the American League West and 5½ behind the No. 3 wild card of the AL, Minnesota. … This six-game road trip will also bring the Astros to San Francisco. … Closer Josh Hader is 2-0 with six saves and a 0.68 ERA over his last 11 appearances (13⅓ innings) dating to May 9. …Kyle Tucker, who missed the last two games after fouling a fly ball off his leg Monday night, has 19 home runs and 10 stolen bases, making him one of four MLB players with at least 10 both. The others are Elly De La Cruz (11 homers, 32 steals), Shohei Ohtani (15 homers, 14 steals) and Bobby Witt Jr. (11 homers, 19 steals). … Alex Bregman, who missed Wednesday’s game after being hit in the left hand Tuesday but was available to pinch hit, hit his 174th career home run Monday, tying him with George Springer for sixth place in the history of the franchise. José Altuve, fifth, has 218.

Angels (24-38) update: With the second-worst record in the AL, Los Angeles is 11 games behind the West Mariners. … LA is 2-1 against Houston, after winning a series May 20-22 at Minute Maid Park. …The Angels’ .298 on-base percentage ranks 25th in the majors, but they are tied for seventh in home runs with 70. …Infielder Luis Rengifo is hitting .327. That’s nine points more than AL leader Juan Soto, but Rengifo is 17 plate appearances away from qualifying for the league lead. … Center fielder Jo Adell is hitting just .198 but has 11 homers. Seven of his last 13 hits have been home runs, including a one-hit grand slam, the seventh in club history and the first for Los Angeles since 2012, last Friday in Seattle. It was the first game-tying hit in the majors since Hunter Pence hit one for the Rangers on May 8, 2019. …Reliever Hunter Strickland has not allowed an earned run in 20 of his last 21 appearances and gave up just eight hits during that 20 inning span. He owns a 1.73 ERA for the season and has stranded all 12 of his inherited runners. … The staff as a whole has a 4.49 ERA, which ranks 27th in the majors.