RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesHOUSTON, TEXAS - JULY 21: Tatsuya Imai #45 of the Houston Astros pitches in the fifth inning during a game against the Miami Marlins at Daikin Park on July 21, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images) | Getty Images
TONIGHT’S GAME : The Houston Astros (52-55) and Los Angeles Angels (42-64) begin a 3-game series tonight in Anaheim.
RHP Tatsuya Imai (6-4, 5.59 ERA) will start for the Astros vs. RHP Walbert Ureña (6-7, 2.78 ERA). Imai’s 1st career ML start was vs. LAA on March 29 at Daikin Park. He ended up with a no decision in a 9-7 Astros win (2.2 IP, 4 ER). This will be Ureña’s 4th career appearance and 2nd start vs. HOU, all this season. His most recent app. vs. the Astros was a start on June 9 at Angel Stadium (5 IP, 0 R in a 10-1 Angels’ win).
ABOUT IMAI : Tonight will be RHP Tatsuya Imai’s 15th start of the season. He was solid in his last start on July 21 vs. MIA, allowing just 1 run and 4 hits in 6.0 IP with 8 K’s to earn a 5-3 victory. The Astros have won 6 of his last 7 starts (he is 4-1 in that span). For the season, HOU is 9-5 in his 14 starts overall.
In 2025, Imai was an All-Star for the Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (NPB), where he went 10-5 with a 1.92 ERA (35ER/163.2IP) in 24 games.
RECENT STROS : The Astros have won 5 of their last 6 games. Their recent 5-game win streak (7/20-25) matched their longest win streak of the season (other was 3/28-4/1).
ROAD WARRIORS : Tonight is the 4th game of a 6-game road trip for the Astros. HOU was 2-1 over the weekend at CWS on the first stop of the trip. The Astros are 19-13 (.593) on their last five road trips combined and are 25-19 (.568) on the road since going 1-9 on their first road trip of the season.
ROAD SLUGGING : The Astros have been one of the AL’s top offensive clubs on the road this season. They are currently ranked T-1st in the AL in road HR (76), 2nd in SLG (.418) and OPS (.742) and 3rd in road runs scored (259).
VS. THE HALOS : The Astros are 3-4 vs. LAA thus far in 2026. They dropped 2 of 3, June 8-10 at LAA in the most recent series. Over the years, the Astros have had success vs. the Angels. They are 141-92 all-time against the Halos, including a 67-48 record at Angel Stadium.
Note : The Astros were 2-0 vs. LAA in a 2-game, regular season series in Mexico, May 4-5 of 2019.
MEASURING UP : The Astros are 27-22 vs. teams currently over .500. Additonally, HOU is a combined 20-10 vs. the 6 AL clubs currently holding playoff spots, with a 10-5 record vs. the 3 AL division leaders (2-1 vs. TB, 6-4 vs. TEX, 2-1 vs. CWS) and a 10-5 record vs. the 3 current AL Wild Card teams (5-1 vs. BOS, 4-2 vs. CLE, 1-2 vs. NYY).
PLAYER OF THE WEEK!: Jeremy Peña was named AL Player of the Week today. Peña posted incredible numbers last week, hitting .500 (13×26) in 6 games with 5 HR, 8 RBI and 10 R while posting a 1.577. This is Peña’s 1st POTW Award. The Astros have won this award 4 times this season, with Yordan Alvarez winning the other 3 times.
Highlights from Peña’s week included:
*2 leadoff HR.
*2nd career grand slam
*collecting 3 hits in 3 straight games.
*homering in 3 cons. games.
PEÑA POWER : Jeremy Peña has hit safely in 8 straight games at a sizzling .516 (16×31) clip with 5 HR, 8 RBI and 12 R.
LEADING THE WAY: Jeremy Peña opened yesterday’s game at CWS with his 3rd leadoff HR of the season and the 8th of his career. He is one of 3 Astros to hit leadoff HR’s in 2026. Jose Altuve and Brice Matthews are the others.
THEIR KIND OF TOWN : After taking 2 of 3 games from the White Sox at Rate Field over the weekend, the Astros are 5-1 in the city of Chicago this season. They also swept a 3-game set from the Cubs at Wrigley Field, May 20-22.
CLOSE CALLS : The Astros are 31-20 in games decided by 2 runs or less: 22-12 in 2-run games, 9-8 in 1-run games.
MVP-CALIBER: Yordan Alvarez is a strong AL MVP candidate as he enters tonight leading the league in all three Triple Crown categories, ranking 1st in batting average (.323), HR (34), and RBI (77). Additionally, he currently leads all of baseball in OPS (1.074), OBP (.431), SLG (.643) and TB (245), and in the AL, he also ranks 1st in hits (123) and runs (72) and 4th in walks (70).
TAPPING FOR SUCCESS : Astros hitters have won an MLB-best 73 ABS challenges and lead the Majors in challenge success rate (58%).
HIT PAREDES: Isaac Paredes is hitting .324 (11×34) in his 9 games since the AS Break with 2 HR and 8 RBI while posting a .559 SLG and a .943 OPS. Since June 3, Paredes is batting .294 (48×163) with 22 runs scored, 6 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR, 33 RBI and 19 walks in 44 games.
BRYAN’S BACK: RHP Bryan Abreu has a 1.59 ERA (2ER/11.1IP) in his last 11 apps. with just 7 hits allowed and 13 K’s in that span. Additionally, since May 1, he has a 2.39 ERA (7ER/26.1IP) in 27 apps., and is 5-for-5 in save opp. in that span. Prior to May 1, Abreu had a 12.54 ERA in his 1st 11 apps. of the season.
ON THE DEFENSIVE : The Astros lead the AL in fielding pct. (.988) and have the fewest errors in the AL (44). 1B Christian Walker has led the way, as he has not committed an error in his 99 games played at 1B. Dating back to last season, Walker has not made an error in his last 128 games at 1B (last error was Aug. 23, 2025 at BAL).
TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY : 1982 – RHP Nolan Ryan earns his 200th career win in style, going the distance in a 3-2 victory over the Reds in the Dome. Ryan also tallies 13 K’s in the historic win. He would end up with 324 wins in his HOF career, including 106 as an Astro.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Monday, July 27, 8:38 p.m. CT
Location: Angel Stadium, Anaheim, CA
TV: SCHN
Radio: KTRH 740 AM; KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)
Astros-Angels tonight: pic.twitter.com/Me4tAGInkK
— Matt Kawahara (@matthewkawahara) July 27, 2026
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