he Houston Astros (10-16) will play the first of a three-game series with their heated interdivision rival New York Yankkes (16-9), tonight at Daikin Park.

RHP Lance McCullers Jr (1-1, 6.20 ERA) will make his fifth regular season appearance for the Astros tonight opposite the Yankees and starter RHP Will Warren (2-0, 2.49 ERA).

TONIGHT’S STARTER: RHP Lance McCullers is making his fifth start of the season as he tries to right the ship after three consecutive lackluster starts.

This season, McCullers opened the season with a brilliant seven inning outing, but has since struggled to get through the fifth inning. He did make it through five innings the last time out, but did give up four tuns in the process taking another loss.

HOME-COOKIN’: Tonight is the first game of a brief three game home stand against the Yankees. Even though the team is 10-16 overall, seven of those wins have come at home this season as the team is a respectable 7-6 at home coming into tonight’s game.

VS. THE YANKEES: This series revives a major rivalry between two stalwart American League franchises including three different playoff tilts since 2015. In spite of the dominance in the playoffs, the Yankees hold a 52-36 record all-time. The two teams split the season series last year at three games a piece.

TODAY’S MEDIA AVAILABILITY: The Astros clubhouse will be open to approved media from 3-3:50 p.m….Astros Manager Joe Espada will be available in the Astros dugout at approx. 3:50 p.m.

STALKING THE PUMA: LF Yordan Alvarez has matched the Astros franchise record with 11 home runs in the club’s first 26 games of a season, also reached one other time, by OF Lance Berkman in 2002…should Alvarez homer tonight, he would be the first player in franchise history to hit 12 homers within the club’s first 27 games.

Game Date/Time: Saturday, April 18, 6:05 p.m. CST

Radio: KTRH 740 AM & 99.1 FM HD2; KTRH 740 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)