The Rays, coming off four games in which they went with traditional starters—Blake Snell, Charlie Morton, Ryan Yarbrough and Tyler Glasnow, respectively—opted to hand the ball to John Curtiss to get the first few outs. On the other side, the Astros played a similar game, starting Luis Garcia.
Curtiss opened the game respectably, getting the first four outs albeit after allowing a leadoff homer to the red hot George Springer. Garcia fared better, throwing two scoreless innings for Houston.
The Rays lineup looked a little differently today than in previous games in this series, as the struggling Brandon Lowe hit leadoff.