Houston Astros vs Oakland Athletics Picks and Predictions: Dave Covers Spreads, MLB FREE PICK
The Houston Astros prepare to take on the Oakland Athletics in the second of a three-game series on Saturday afternoon. The Astros took game 1 in a dominate 8-3 victory behind Jose Urquidy who went 8 full innings allowing 3 runs. Can the Athletics bounce back in this divisional series or will the Astros take a 2-0 series lead? Here is my complete prediction and breakdown.
Astros Continue to Win
The Houston Astros continue their dominate form winning 9 out of their last 10 games. They are currently in the early stages of a six game road trip and have a complete dominate record of 54-28. The Astros are playing well all-round, but especially on defence where they are allowing just 3.4 runs per game, 3rd in the majors and have a combined ERA of 3.00 also 3rd.
In terms of offence the Astros are scoring a league 11th in runs per game with 4.5, batting at a combined clip of .242 and have hit the 3rd most homers on the season with 121. Alex Bregman has been huge for the Stro’s this season with a .771 OPS and 42 RBI’s on the season.
The Astros will send left-hander Rambler Valdez to the mound for his 17th start of the season. The 28-year-old has been completely dominate the season posting a 8-3 record over 101 innings played for a 2.67 ERA, 1.13 WHIP whilst striking out 93 batters. In his last start against Oakland Valdez went the full 9 innings with just 2 hits and 1 run.
Struggling A’s
The Oakland Athletics are far from the team we saw in MoneyBall, currently with a 28-57 record and find themselves in 5th place in the AL West. Franke Montas was scheduled to start this game but due to a shoulder injury has ended up on the IL list. Instead Zach Logue is being called up from the Triple-A to take his place.
One crazy stat about Oakland is the fact they have just 10 home wins all season. They are a rebuilding baseball team all-round. As a team they are currently pitching a combined 4.30 ERA, 1.31 WHIP allowing a league 20th 4.5 runs per game. In terms of offense the A’s are rank dead-last in nearly all categories. They currently find themselves 30th in batting average (.211), OBP (.274), SLG (.329) and OPS (.603). They are scoring just 3.2 runs per game. Seth Brown leads the team in RBI’s with 36 whilst Christian Bethancourt leads the team with a .249 batting average.
As mentioned, Zach Logue gets the start for the Athletics in this one. He has posted a 5.03 ERA and 1.74 WHIP in 34 innings over six starts at Triple-A Las Vegas following his demotion. In the Big-Leagues he has posting a 2-4 record with a 5.47 ERA. In his last start he lasted just 2 innings against Texas allowing 4 runs on 7 hits.
Complete MisMatch
There isn’t much way of looking at this game other than a complete mismatch. The Athletics are the worst team in the league and the Astros are near the top. Zach Logue gets the call up for this one only to be handed to the wolves. The Astros have been dominating their opponents scoring 6.17 runs per game in their last 5. Valdez should have no issues working through this weak A’s lineup, except the Astros to dominate the whole game.
Lay the points, with confidence.
FREE PICK: Houston Astros -1.5 (2 Unit)
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Thanks for reading, Dave Covers Spreads