BASEBALL: Banged-up Astros pursue series victory over Twins

Jake Meyers is ready to provide a fresh spark for the Houston Astros as they prepare to face the Minnesota Twins in the rubber match of their three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.

Meyers returned from the injured list on Tuesday after missing six weeks with an oblique strain. The Astros center fielder went 1-for-3 in Houston’s 2-1 victory and said he feels fully prepared to resume regular duties.

“I feel ready to go,” Meyers said. “It was more about getting my body ready to play a full game. The training staff did a great job of setting me up for that.”

Houston has battled a wave of injuries throughout the season, with more than a dozen players landing on the injured list, including key contributors Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. The Astros had dropped seven of their previous 10 games before Tuesday’s narrow win.

The club’s latest setback involves right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., who was scratched from his scheduled start Tuesday because of right shoulder inflammation and placed on the 15-day injured list.

“He’s been pitching through it,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “He’s been recovering well, kind of your normal post-start soreness. But this week, he wasn’t able to get rid of it, so we decided to have our doctors take a look.”

The Twins have avoided major injury problems for much of the season, though they recently lost catcher Ryan Jeffers, who suffered a fractured left hamate bone Monday and was placed on the injured list. Minnesota called up catcher Alex Jackson from Triple-A St. Paul to fill the roster spot.

Jackson, who has appeared in 160 major league games over parts of six seasons, could see action in Wednesday’s series finale after Victor Caratini started behind the plate Tuesday.

Minnesota also has seen improvement from left-handed reliever Anthony Banda, who tossed a scoreless inning Tuesday. Banda has allowed only one run over his last 6 1/3 innings across seven appearances.

“Early on, I don’t know if it was the cold weather because his velocity was down and the spin on the ball wasn’t consistent,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “But over the last five or six outings, he’s been attacking the zone and it’s been really effective. That’s the guy we expected when we acquired him.”

The Twins are expected to start right-hander Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.20 ERA), who enters the game after consecutive quality starts against Cleveland and Milwaukee. Ryan allowed two runs on six hits over 12 innings in those outings.

In seven career starts against Houston, Ryan owns a 2-4 record with a 6.63 ERA.

The Astros are scheduled to counter with right-hander Mike Burrows (2-5, 5.72 ERA), who is looking to rebound after allowing seven runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Seattle Mariners last week.

Burrows also struggled in his only previous appearance against Minnesota. Pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 12 last year, he surrendered six runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings in a losing effort.

—Field Level Media/Reuters