ON DECK: ASTROS AT ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
When/where: Friday at 8:40 p.m., Saturday at 7:10 p.m., Sunday at 2:10 p.m.; Chase
Field, Phoenix.
TV/radio: ATTSW; 790 AM, 740 AM, 93.3 FM (Spanish), 1010 AM (Spanish).
Pitchers: Friday, RHP J.P. France (11-6, 3.83) vs. RHP Zac Gallen (17-8, 3.49); Saturday, RHP Justin Verlander (12-8, 3.32) vs. TBD; Sunday, TBD vs. TBD.
Astros (87-72) update: After winning its series at Seattle on Wednesday, goes into the regular season’s final weekend needing any combination of victories and Mariners losses totaling three to clinch an AL wild card berth. The Astros could still win the AL West with a sweep of Arizona and two losses by Texas at Seattle. … The Astros are 48-30 on the road this season. They finished 39-42 at home. … Kyle Tucker needs one home run and one stolen base to become the second Astro to produce a 30/30 season. Jeff Bagwell accomplished the feat in 1997 and 1999. … Tucker would join Ronald Acuña Jr., Julio Rodriguez and Francisco Lindor among 30/30 players this season. (One more home run would also do the trick for Bobby Witt Jr.) … Yordan Alvarez, who hit his team-best 31st home run Wednesday, on Monday became the third Astro with three 30-homer seasons in his career, joining Bagwell (nine), Lance Berkman (five) and Glenn Davis (three). … Bryan Abreu’s scoreless streak is up to 26 2⁄3 innings. That’s the longest by an Astros reliever since Ryne Stanek went 27 1⁄3 innings without allowing a run from April 29 to July 25 last year. … Presently 13th on the all-time strikeout list with 3,337, Verlander needs six to pass Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro for 12th. Diamondbacks (84-75) update: After losing 3-1 to the White Sox on Thursday, Arizona holds a 1 1⁄2-game lead over the Marlins, whose road game against the Mets was suspended by rain Thursday night, for the second NL wild card. The D-Backs are two games ahead of the Cubs and three up on the Reds. Miami and Cincinnati have tiebreaker edges on the D-Backs. … Arizona is 43-35 at home and has won 13 of its last 20 games overall. … In four career starts against the Astros, Gallen is 1-0 with a 3.24 ERA and a 25:4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 25 innings. … Speedy outfielder Corbin Carroll (.287/.362/.509) has 25 home runs and 52 stolen bases, making him the first 25/50 rookie in major league history. The only other player with a 25/50 year in his age-22 season was the Astros’ Cesar Cedeño (25 homers, 56 steals) in 1973. … Corbin also has an MLB-best 10 triples. … First baseman Christian Walker (.261/.336/.503) has produced career highs in RBIs (103), hits (150) and doubles (36). His 33 homers are three shy of his personal best. … Second baseman Ketel Marte is slashing .364/.464/.636 over his last seven games. … The Diamondbacks, whose first season was 1998, have 1,998 wins as a franchise, putting 2,000 within reach in this series.