Astros vs. Royals Pick
Will the Houston Astros continue to add to their current win streak when they take on 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 -140 to win, while the Royals are listed with odds of +130 to prevail. The over/under total for the game has been set at 9.5 runs.
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Today’s pitching matchup has David Paulino (0-0, 4.50 ERA) on the mound to lead the Astros against Jake Junis (1-0, 2.70) of the Royals. Junis has pitched just 6.2 innings this season and has one start that lasted 4.2 innings. He gave up 2 runs with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in a win. Paulino also has just one start, going 4 innings while allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits with 8 strikeouts.
The Astros won the series opener, 7-3, on Monday night. They have won two of four meetings with KC this season and are on an 11-game win streak right now. Houston is now 42-16 overall and 22-6 on the road. Kanas City is 24-32 overall and 15-15 at home.
Monday’s win saw the Astros jump out to a 4-0 lead and add some insurance runs in the ninth on a Yuli Gurriel 3-run home run. Brian McCann also homered for Houston, driving in two runs while scoring three times in the game. Mike Fiers got the win thanks to early run support, allowing just two runs over five innings with four strikeouts. Ian Kennedy fell to 0-6 on the season by allowing four runs over five innings.
With two inexperience pitchers on the mound, I am stick with the Astros to win again. They have been too good at the plate over this win streak and still have a great bullpen to turn to if Paulino struggles. Junis isn’t likely to last real long in this game and I am not sure he can stop the Houston bats anyway. Look for the Astros to keep rolling along.
MLB DAILY PREDICTION: HOUSTON ASTROS -140