Astros @ Indians

Who will WIN this matchup?

Houston Astros (69-40)

@ Cleveland Indians (63-44)

Starting Pitchers:

Cole (HOU): 12-5; 2.94 ERA

Salazar (CLE) 0-0; 0.00 ERA (first start since 2017)

Last 10 Games Played:

Houston Astros: 7-3

Cleveland Indians: 7-3

Current odds:

Houston Astros: (-200)

Cleveland Indians: (+180)

• The Cleveland Indians traded for two power bats but certainly weren’t lacking for punch while pounding the visiting Houston Astros on Wednesday. Now the anticipation revolves around whether or not Franmil Reyes (27 homers for San Diego) and Yasiel Puig (23 for Cincinnati) make their team debuts when Cleveland hosts Houston on Thursday for the finale of their three-game series. Roberto Perez homered twice while Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis also went deep as the Indians scored all of their runs on homers in a 10-4 win after the team officially announced the trade in which they received five players in a three-team deal that sent Trevor Bauer to the Reds. “Both guys are really productive hitters, are capability of hitting the ball out of the ballpark at any point in time,” Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters of Reyes and Puig. “Combine that with some of the other guys we have in our lineup, we feel like we now have a deep lineup that’s capable of scoring runs in a variety of different ways.”

• While the Indians occupy the American League’s top wild-card spot, the AL West-leading Astros are looking to make a World Series run and helped their odds by obtaining six-time All-Star Zack Greinke from Arizona for four top prospects prior to the trade deadline. “Incredible day for the organization and our team,” Houston manager A.J. Hinch told reporters regarding the addition of Greinke to a rotation that includes Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. “The energy in our room after a thing like that happens is palpable. You know that what you have in front of you is one of the greatest opportunities to keep the winning ways alive.”

• Cole has won six of his last seven starts and allowed just nine runs while winning his last eight decisions. The 28-year-old defeated St. Louis in his last turn as he gave up one run over seven innings for the third straight outing. Cole lost to the Indians on April 25, when he permitted two runs and three hits over seven frames, and is 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA in three career turns versus the club.

• Salazar is making his first start for the Indians since 2017 after undergoing major shoulder surgery. The 29-year-old was a 14-game winner in 2015 and is 38-33 in 108 career contests (104 starts). “It was hard because we missed Danny,” Indians manager Terry Francona told reporters. “He kept getting to points where he didn’t feel like he could push through, and he was finally able to. So hopefully he comes back and really helps us, because our medical people have spent a lot of sweat and work with Danny to try and get him back to help us.”

• In addition to acquiring Greinke, the Astros obtained RHPs Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini from Toronto and C Martin Maldonado from the Chicago Cubs in separate deals.

• Cleveland SS Francisco Lindor went 3-for-5 with two runs scored on Wednesday, giving him four three-hit performances in his last six games.

• Houston placed All-Star Ryan Pressly (knee) on the 10-day injured list and recalled fellow RHP Bryan Abreu from Double-A Corpus Christi.