Houston Astros vs Texas Rangers Starting Lineup — Sunday, Jul 12, 2026

Houston has only a handful of prior looks at MacKenzie Gore. Jeremy Peña is 1-for-2 with a 1.000 OPS, Christian Walker is 2-for-8 in 9 PA with a .250 average and .583 OPS, and Cam Smith is 1-for-2 in 3 PA with a .500 average and .833 OPS. Yordan Alvarez is hitless in 3 at-bats, Jose Altuve is hitless in 0-for-2 in 3 PA with a .333 OPS, and LaMonte Wade Jr. is hitless in 3 at-bats with a .000 OPS. Isaac Paredes, Brice Matthews, and Christian Vázquez have no MLB history vs Gore.

Texas has much more familiarity with Cristian Javier, with several hitters carrying at least some success. Josh Jung stands out at 2-for-3 with a .667 average and 1.334 OPS, while Evan Carter is 1-for-3 with a 1.666 OPS and Ezequiel Duran is 2-for-10 with a .200 average and .500 OPS. Joc Pederson is 1-for-6 with a .167 average and .334 OPS, Wyatt Langford is hitless in 0-for-4 in 6 PA with a .333 OPS, and Nicky Lopez is hitless in 3 at-bats with a .000 OPS. Brandon Nimmo has 2 PA against Javier, both walks, while Jake Burger is hitless in 0-for-1 in 2 PA with a .500 OPS and Kyle Higashioka is hitless in 0-for-1 in 2 PA with a .500 OPS.

The Rangers clearly bring more established history into this matchup, while the Astros have only a few brief samples against Gore. Houston’s prior results are also more mixed, with three regulars having no previous matchup at all.