McCullers’ injury serves as yet another blow to the Astros pitching staff. He now joins a long list of injured pitchers that includes Spencer Arrighetti, Ronel Blanco, J.P. France, Luis Garcia, Cristian Javier, and Hayden Wesneski.

BOTTOM LINE: The Athletics face the Houston Astros with a 1-0 series lead. Houston has a 60-43 record overall and a 33-20 record in home games. The Astros have a 40-19 record in games when they record at least eight hits. The Athletics are 43-62 overall and 23-31 on the road. The Athletics have hit 135 total home runs to rank fourth in the AL.

At this point, all the Astros can do is survive until the cavalry arrives. Even then, the team still has a lot of work to do in order to truly compete with the upper echelon teams of the league this year.