Astros to have unique end-of-spring schedule

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- The Astros will work out Thursday morning in Kissimmee, Fla., before flying to San Antonio for a pair of exhibition games against the Rangers, to be played Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Manager Bo Porter and most of the starting players will return to Houston on Saturday for exhibition games against Veracruz of the Mexican League on Saturday and Sunday.

Porter said most of the players who are earmarked to start the season in Double-A Corpus Christi will stay in San Antonio for Saturday's game before heading south. Most of the players heading to Triple-A Oklahoma City will come to Houston and play in Sunday's game.

Porter said infielders Marwin Gonzalez and Jesus Guzman, along with pitcher Anthony Bass, are among the players who will stay in San Antonio for Saturday's game against the Rangers.

Mark Appel, the No. 1 pick in last June's First-Year Player Draft, had been listed to start Sunday in Houston, but Porter said that might not be the case.

"There are a lot of moving parts and a lot of names," he said. "It's not every day you have a split-squad in two different places three days before Opening Day. It's pretty challenging for everyone, trying to get it all worked out."