Division leaders clash as Astros visit Blue Jays

Division leaders with diminishing leads clash Tuesday night when the Houston Astros visit the Toronto Blue Jays for the opener of a three-game series.

Both teams had a game trimmed from their leads with losses on Sunday.

The Blue Jays (82-61) dropped the deciding game of their three-game series with the second-place New York Yankees 4-3 on Sunday to see their lead in the American League East shrink to two games.

The Astros (78-66) lost 4-2 to the Texas Rangers in the deciding game of a three-games series that cut their lead in the AL West to 2 1/2 games over the Seattle Mariners.

The Blue Jays are returning from a 3-3 road trip to play their next six games at home with their fate in their own hands. They own the tiebreaker with the Yankees after winning the season series 8-5 against New York.

"I think we're good," Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said. "Obviously, it was not what we wanted here, but you flush it, you rest (Monday) and then try to win the series against Houston."

The Blue Jays led the division by 6 1/2 games on July 26 and are 19-19 since. They still led by five games on Aug. 25.

They played without shortstop Bo Bichette on Sunday after his left leg was cut sliding into home when he was thrown out on Saturday. He finished the game after a rain delay allowed him to be treated but manager John Schneider said that he was sore on Sunday morning. He could be ready to return Tuesday.

Houston is expected to start right-hander Luis Garcia (1-0, 4.50 ERA), who is making his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. Garcia is 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA in four career starts against the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays will open the series with right-hander Shane Bieber (2-1, 4.15), who had just one bad inning in his latest outing.

Making his third start since returning last month from Tommy John surgery, Bieber yielded five hits and five runs in the second inning against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday, but no other hits nor runs in his six-inning outing. He wound up earning the win as Toronto prevailed 13-9.

"Whatever it may be, experience, competitiveness, grit, whatever, just not giving in," Bieber said, according to MLB.com. "I think telling myself that regardless of if I give up more runs, I've got to eat up innings here and do my job as a starting pitcher and to get deeper into the ballgame. And for a little bit there, especially early, it was not looking that way. So fortunately, I was able to turn things around."

Bieber is 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in three career starts against the Astros.

The Astros were in a 3-6 rut entering their day off on Monday. They led the division by four games on Wednesday but saw that lead shrink to just 2 1/2 games by Monday.

Houston has been dealing with injuries but saw center fielder Jake Meyers return on Saturday. Meyers had not played since July 6 because of a strained right calf. He tried to play on July 9 but aggravated the injury before the first pitch.

The Astros were 22-30 without him.

"Adding Jake, his defense and the offensive production that he has been showing this year, stretches our lineup a little more," Houston manager Joe Espada said. "We can hit him down at the bottom of the lineup, hopefully he gets on base for the top of the order."

Meyers was 2-for-9 with one RBI and a stolen base, his 15th of the season, in his two games against the Rangers. He is batting .305, with a .399 slugging percentage, three home runs and 22 RBIs.

The Astros were held to five hits with one walk in Sunday's 4-2 loss to the Rangers and were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

"The bottom line is we just need to have better at-bats," Espada said.

The Astros swept the Blue Jays in a three-game series at Houston on April 21-23. Houston has won five straight and seven of eight against Toronto.

--Field Level Media