Astros vs. Royals Pick
After having their win streak snapped on Tuesday, can the Houston Astros bounce back tonight when they face the Kansas City Royals at 8:15PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Astros are favored on the road, as they are getting odds of -170 to win, while the Royals are listed with odds of +155 to prevail. The over/under total for the game has been set at 8.5 runs.
MLB Quick Links: Scores & Matchups | Injuries | Odds Comparison | Betting Trends | ATS Stats
Tonight’s pitching matchup has Dallas Keuchel (9-0, 1.67 ERA) on the mound for Houston to face Jason Vargas (7-3, 2.08) of the Royals. Houston has won 10 of Keuchel’s 11 starts, as he has given up just 14 earned runs over 75.2 innings of work. He has 69 strikeouts with 18 walks and a 0.87 WHIP. Vargas has been pretty great for the Royals, allowing just 16 earned runs over 69.1 innings this season. He is coming off a complete game shutout of the Indians last week. He has 54 strikeouts with 16 walks and a WHIP of 1.10.
The Astros had their 11-game win streak put to an end on Tuesday in a 9-7 loss to the Royals. These two have split the first two meetings in this series, but the Royals are 3-2 this season against Houston. The Astros are now 42-17 overall and 22-7 on the road while the Royals are 25-32 overall and 16-15 at home.
Houston had a comfortable 7-3 lead in Tuesday’s game, but the Royals put up four runs in the eighth to tie things up and then walked off with a pair of runs in the ninth on a Mike Moustakas home run, his 15th of the season. He finished with four hits and three RBI while White Merrifield drove in three for the Royals. Houston was led by Carlos Beltran, who homered and drove in two. Yuli Gurriel also drove in two runs. The big difference in the game was the bullpens. Houston’s pen allowed six runs over just 3.0 innings of work while the Royals pen pitched 5.1 scoreless innings.
The bullpen was key on Tuesday, but I don’t think either team is focused on the bullpen today. Each has their great arm on the mound, but I think the difference is Keuchel has a much better lineup to support him. Vargas has great numbers, but KC produces one of the lowest run averages in baseball. Houston is near the top and that should allow Keuchel to get a few runs of support and pick up the win.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: HOUSTON ASTROS -170