The Houston Astros (9-16) and Cleveland Guardians (14-11) will play the rubber match of this 3-game set this afternoon at Progressive Field.
RHP Peter Lambert (0-1, 7.20 ERA) will start for HOU vs. CLE RHP Tanner Bibee (0-2, 4.81 ERA). The Astros won Monday night’s series opener, 9-2, while the Guardians took last night’s game, 8-5.
TODAY’S STARTER: RHP Peter Lambert will make his 2nd start/app. of the season this afternoon… Lambert joined the Astros via free agency this offseason after pitching last year for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the NPB, posting a 3.98 ERA (55ER/124.1IP) with 111 strikeouts in 23 appearances in Japan.
He began this season at Triple A Sugar Land (1.84 ERA in 3 app. (2 GS) before being called up for a start on April 17 vs. STL. In that start, he hurled 5.0 IP, allowing 4 ER with 1 BB and 8 strikeouts. He also induced 23 swing-and- misses, the most by any Astros starter in 2026.
A SWING AND A MISS: The 23 whiffs induced by RHP Peter Lambert in his April 17 start vs. STL are 2nd-highest total by an AL pitcher in 2026 and T-4th highest in the Majors:
VS. THE LAND: Today is the third game of six scheduled meetings vs. the Guardians in 2026.
After this 3-game set at Progressive Field, the two clubs will play a 3-game series at Daikin Park, June 19-21.
The Astros were 2-4 vs. CLE last season, going 2-1 at Progressive and 0-3 at Daikin Park.
AT PROGRESSIVE: Dating back to 2024, the Astros have won 5 of their last 7 games at Progressive Field.
They were 2-0 at Progressive in 2024, 2-1 in 2025 and are 1-1 thus far in 2026.
TUVE’S 2000: 2B Jose Altuve played in his 2,000th career game last night, joining Craig Biggio (2,850) and Jeff Bagwell (2,150) as the only players in franchise history to reach this milestone.
Altuve is now the 5th active player to reach 2,000 games. The others are: Andrew McCutchen (2,276), Carlos Santana (2,212), Freddie Freeman (2,200) and Paul Goldschmidt (2,082).
CLIMBING THE CHARTS: Jose Altuve’s rankings on the Astros all-time lists:
UP TO THE CHALLENGE: Since April 13, C Yainer Diaz has been successful in 10 of his last 12 ABS challenges. In that span, he has been successful twice in the same game 4 different times.
ON THE LEADERBOARD: Yordan Alvarez has had a torrid start to this season, currently leading the Majors in HR (10), TB (68) and Offensive WAR (1.8) while ranking T-1st in RBI (24). Among AL hitters, Alvarez ranks 2nd in batting (.330), OBP (.456), SLG (.747) and OPS (1.203) and T-3rd in runs (19).
EE-SOCK!: Isaac Paredes hit his 1st 2 HR of the 2026 season on Monday night. It marked his 9th career multi-HR game and his 1st since June 25, 2025 at PIT (2 HR).
Paredes is 5×12 (.417) in his last 3 games with 4 RBI.
HOMECOMING KING: Close to 100 students from the nearby Clear Fork school district were at Progressive Field on Monday night to support RHP A.J. Blubaugh.
Not only did Blubaugh graduate from Clear Fork High School, he also served as a substitute teacher for the district. Blubaugh, who is from Mansfield, OH, also had several family members and friends at Monday night’s game.
Blubaugh hurled a scoreless inning in relief in Monday night’s 9-2 Astros win.