July 7, 2026 11:16 am EDT Updated

James Wood and Yordan Alvarez square off in a battle between top-10 power hitters when the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros play on Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. ET. Wood has 24 homers (seventh in league) for the Nationals, while Alvarez ranks second with 29 home runs for the Astros. Andrew Alvarez (2-1, 3.05 ERA) gets the start for the Nationals, who are 47-45 this season and fourth in the NL East. Tatsuya Imai (5-4, 6.14 ERA) is expected to start for the Astros, who are 45-48 and third in the AL West.

How to watch Houston Astros vs. Washington NationalsAstros vs. Nationals odds

Odds provided by BetMGM.

Injury reportsNationals

Richard Lovelady: 15 Day IL (Tricep), Jake Irvin: 15 Day IL (Shoulder), Josiah Gray: 60 Day IL (Elbow), DJ Herz: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Max Kranick: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Ken Waldichuk: 60 Day IL (Forearm), Mitchell Parker: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Trevor Williams: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Jacob Young: day-to-day (Hand)

Astros

Jeremy Pena: 10 Day IL (Calf), Kai-Wei Teng: 15 Day IL (Knee), Lance McCullers: 15 Day IL (Shoulder), Hayden Wesneski: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Carlos Correa: 60 Day IL (Ankle), Ronel Blanco: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Bennett Sousa: 60 Day IL (Elbow), Brandon Walter: 60 Day IL (Elbow)

Stats to know
Washington’s Wood is slashing .268/.398/.541 this season with 24 home runs (7th in MLB), 60 RBIs (9th in MLB) and an OPS of .939 (4th in MLB). He has a 29.1% strikeout rate and a 17% walk rate in 430 plate appearances, and he has scored 81 total runs. Wood has recorded 14 steals on 16 attempts.
In 373 plate appearances, C.J. Abrams has slashed .274/.351/.509 this season. He has hit 19 long balls (20th in MLB) and driven in 64 runs (5th in MLB) with a strikeout rate of 21.7% and a walk rate of 8.3%. He has 15 stolen bases on 19 attempts. He has come around to score 55 times.
Houston’s Yordan Alvarez is slashing .318/.426/.630 this season with 29 home runs (2nd in MLB), 67 RBIs (1st in MLB) and an OPS of 1.056 (1st in MLB). He has a 17.4% strikeout rate and a 14.9% walk rate in 397 plate appearances, and he has scored 62 total runs.
In 378 plate appearances, Christian Walker has hit 20 long balls (11th in MLB), tallied 58 RBIs (15th in MLB) and scored 47 runs. He is batting .240/.312/.472 and has posted a 22.5% strikeout rate and an 8.2% walk rate.

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Photo: Jamie Squire, Ishika Samant, Scott Taetsch, Alika Jenner / Getty Images

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Jul 7, 2026

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