The Houston Astros kick off their series against the Seattle Mariners Friday night at Daikin Park, and it's a crucial one. The Astros haven't played Seattle since May 14, when the Mariners beat them 8-3, per MLB.
Last time these teams played, the Astros looked like a completely different team.
Since then, Houston has completely flipped its season, now in first place at 62-60. That said, this team has lost to opponents they had no business losing to before, so there's no room to sleepwalk through this series just because they should win it.
From 11 games under .500 to +2 over three months is a pretty serious turnaround, and they're clearly determined not to watch the playoffs from home for a second straight season.
The real shift happened coming out of the All-Star break. The specific stretch that did it: an 11-1 run after being swept by the Orioles and falling to 7 games under.
Taking a look at where Seattle stands: they're currently 57-65 and have been struggling lately.
They did snap a six-game losing streak Thursday against the Yankees, so they're not completely done for. They're technically still alive in the Wild Card race too, but they're 3.5 games back with six teams in front of them, so let's not get carried away.
Houston is 1-7 against Seattle this year, but that record doesn't mean a whole lot heading into this series. A sweep here could effectively end Seattle's season and turn the division into a two-team race with Texas.
For the pitching matchup, Peter Lambert will take the mound for Houston against George Kirby for Seattle.
Lambert enters the game with an 8-6 record and a 3.09 ERA on the season, per MLB. He's gone 5+ innings in back-to-back starts, but struggled to miss bats last time out (just 3 K in 5 innings against the Padres).
That said, he's been the Astros' most consistent and best pitcher this season. He's had some great starts and some just okay ones, and he's allowed 12 home runs on the season, but he's been steady overall.
Kirby is a right-hander entering the game with an 8-9 record, a 3.68 ERA, and 112 strikeouts on the season, per MLB.
This is a chance for Houston to do to Seattle what Seattle almost did to them in May. With Texas 2 games back, taking care of business against a struggling Mariners team is the easiest path to real separation in the division.