It doesn't matter for Houston that Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa are all out. The Astros have tremendous offensive depth and young talent such as highly-touted Yordan Alvarez. He's slugged three homers in his first four games with the Astros.

The Astros are averaging 9.3 runs in their last three games. They should have no problem teeing off on struggling Clayton Richard, who has a 7.04 ERA and probably isn't likely to remain in Toronto's starting rotation much longer. Richard has failed to reach the sixth inning in any of his starts either. So the Astros will get shots at Toronto's weak bullpen, which is minus injured closer Ken Giles.

Good-looking lefty Framber Valdez gets the start for Houston. He has a 2.41 home ERA in eight appearances and is backed by an eilte bullpen. All of Houston's top relief arms are rested, too, following Friday's 15-2 blowout victory.

The Blue Jays rank 13th out of 15 American League teams in batting average against lefthanders.