OC Dooley
Houston Astros +115
Courtesy of the MLB Network most of the country late tonight gets to see one of baseball’s best starting pitchers that very few know about. Going into Friday night the lowly Astros actually had baseball’s best combined ERA for the month of May with the help of Bud Norris who has WON four consecutive decisions. Odds are that Houston will have another quality outing from the starting staff tonight as Norris has done well (2.67 ERA) in five career starts against the Dodgers. To add a bit of fuel to the fire Norris has twirled 13 consecutive SCORELESS innings in the last pair of appearances inside spacious Dodger Stadium. Even though surprising Los Angeles currently has the best overall record in baseball (30-15) they continue to put out a patch-work lineup every night as MVP Matt Kemp (hamstring) remains on the disabled list. In a stunning upset last night the Dodgers scored only one run against Houston and that came on a bases-loaded walk. Going into last night reigning National League Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw had reeled off 22 consecutive scoreless innings but ended up suffering just his second loss at Dodger Stadium spanning the past twenty mound assignments. Kershaw was beaten by Luke Harrell who forced the Los Angeles offense into 17 ground-ball outs in seven brilliant innings of work. Very quietly Houston with baseball’s youngest overall roster is on a 7-2 WINNING streak which could be extended this evening as they face struggling Chad Billingsley (5.20 ERA past seven starts). For those who watch this MLB Network late night special keep an eye out for J.D. Martinez who in the past three games has gone 6-for-11 at the plate with 6 runs driven in for Houston, which is in stark contrast to the previous seventeen games where he went 5-for-54 at the plate. Houston has basically been automatic this campaign with Bud Norris (8-1) as their starting pitcher