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Jul 10, 2015 - 4:40 AM The Houston Astros are in an offensive funk in a three-game slide but their problems pale in comparison to those of the Tampa Bay Rays, who have dropped 11 of 12.

These teams are among baseball's worst hitting teams and look to break out of those woes Friday night in the opener of a three-game set at Tropicana Field.

Houston (49-39) has totaled three runs while batting .170 on its slide as it tries to avoid its longest losing streak since a season-high seven-game skid June 4-10. The Astros are the AL's third-worst hitting team at .242 with their success built on a major league-leading 122 homers.

They fell 3-1 at Cleveland on Thursday to cap a four-game set that started well with Monday's 9-4 victory.

''We didn't do much offensively,'' manager A.J. Hinch said. ''After the first night they really kept us in check. Their pitching handled us in this series.''

Tampa Bay (43-45) owns the league's second-worst batting average at .241. The Rays were outscored 33-16 in a four-game sweep by Kansas City capped by Thursday's 8-3 loss that ended a 1-6 trip.

Now the Rays seek to snap a five-game home slide.

''It hasn't been going well for us, obviously,'' manager Kevin Cash said. ''We've had times throughout the season where it has and right now it's not going that well. We need to get home and hopefully change that around, turn that around."

The lone Rays pitcher to win on the trip was Erasmo Ramirez (7-3, 3.80 ERA), who gave up one run in six innings in Sunday's 8-1 rout of the New York Yankees to improve to 5-1 with a 1.18 ERA in his last seven starts.

The right-hander's streak of allowing two or fewer runs in seven straight outings is tied for the third-longest in club history.

Ramirez is 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA against Houston in three appearances, with two starts.

The Astros will counter with right-hander Collin McHugh (9-4, 4.54), who went 0-2 with a 2.45 ERA in two starts against the Rays last year. Evan Longoria is 0 for 6 with four strikeouts against him and Kevin Kiermaier has also struck out four times in going 1 for 6.

McHugh gave up four runs over 5 1-3 innings in Saturday's 6-1 defeat at Boston after posting a 2.45 ERA in a three-start win streak.

This will be a special series for Astros rookie Preston Tucker, who was born in Tampa and went to Plant High School in the city. Tucker was 0 for 3 on Thursday after going 8 for 13 in the first three games of that series.

Slugger Chris Carter sat out for the second time in three games. His .190 average is baseball's second-worst, though he has value since he sees a major league-high 4.35 pitches per plate appearance.

"The track record is there," Hinch told MLB's official website. "He's done it. He's up to 100 home runs in his career, 30-plus last year."

Houston's Luis Valbuena is fourth-worst in the majors at .201 and went 0 for 3 on Thursday after missing three games with a sprained big toe.

Longoria is batting .343 in an eight-game hitting streak for the Rays, who took five of seven from the Astros last year.






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