Play: Houston Astros
Rating: 10*

The Houston Astros' quest for a wild-card spot in the American League continues Wednesday afternoon with a matchup against the Oakland Athletics.

Collin McHugh (11-10, 4.66) takes the ball for Houston. The Astros have won each of his last six turns and he's allowed just one run through 12 innings of work in his last two outings. McHugh is 5-1 in eight career against Oakland with an ERA of 3.00 and a WHIP of 1.098. He's held the A's to seven earned runs in 17 1/3 frames this year.

Oakland turns to Daniel Mengden (2-7, 5.68 ERA). The 23 year old rookie tossed seven scoreless innings of three-hit ball in a 14-5 win at Kansas City his last time out, but he's regularly been knocked around home in Oakland where he's 0-6 with a 6.95 ERA on the season. He's took on Houston twice already and surrendered nine runs on 11 hits and seven walks in 9 2/3 innings.

Oakland is just 21-33 in day games this season and I like the Astros in this early game on Wednesday.