Kansas City at Houston

Three teams are tied in the loss column in the wild AL West with Houston in first place by a half-game due to one more win and the Astros have an good opportunity get more of a cushion against the Royals, who are 51-102 and 20-55 on the road. The Astros come off a 2-1 victory over Baltimore on Wednesday when Mauricio Dubon hit a walk-off RBI single with one out in the ninth inning and Houston won despite getting just five hits. Kansas City actually has won seven of eight, but the only thing it accomplished was avoiding finishing with the worst record in the major leagues. The Astros have won three of Framber Valdez's past four starts and he did not allow an earned run in seven innings against the Royals on Sunday and he has a 1.71 in 21 innings this month. Kansas City is dead last in the majors with just 24 saves and the bullpen has a 5.16 ERA. Take the Astros as a Max Play.