Houston Astros vs Oakland Athletics Prediction, Pick and Preview, August 14 (8/14): MLB

Houston Astros vs Oakland Athletics Prediction, Pick and Preview, August 14 (8/14): MLB

Credit: photo by Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports

 

Odds

Time 2:10 p.m. EST
Athletics money line +225
Athletics run line +1.5 (+105)
Astros money line -280
Astros run line -1.5 (-125)
Over / under 8

 

Key stats

  Oakland Athletics Houston Astros
Record 41-73 74-41
Home / road record 24-34 38-18
Last 10 record 2-8 7-3
Streak L7 W3
Over / under record 47-60-6 42-67-5
Runs / game 3.38 4.44
Runs allowed / game 4.48 3.33

 

Preview

The Houston Astros and the Oakland Athletics will play the 3rd game of the series at the Minute Maid Park on Sunday. The Astros outscored the A's 8-0 in the second game of the series.  Lance McCullers Jr. pitched six shutout innings in his season debut, Alex Bregman homered and Trey Mancini had three hits.

Oakland Athletics

The Athletics get here with a 41-73 record and have lost their last 7 games. The team is averaging 3.38 runs per game. They're batting for .214 AVG, 379 runs scored in 787 hits and 96 home runs, ranking #29 in offense, the second worst in the MLB behind the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sean Murphy is batting for .242 AVG. Seth Brown leads the team with 48 RBI and 17 home runs.

Defensively are allowing 4.48 runs per game, ranking #22 in the league. Paul Blackburn leads the team with a 4.28 ERA, 89 strikeouts and 7 wins recorded with the A's.

Probable Pitcher:

Cole Irvin (6-9, 2.92 ERA) will be on the mound for the Athletics in the 3rd game of the series. Irvin yielded one run on five hits over eight innings Monday, striking out six and taking a loss against the Angels. He has a record of 2-4 with an ERA of 4.57 and 22 strikeouts in 8 appearances against the Astros in his career.

Houston Astros

The Astros get here with a 74-41 record and have won 4 of their last 5 games. They're averaging 4.45 runs and batting for .240 AVG, 497 runs scored in 896 hits and 154 home runs, ranking #14 in offense in the league behind the Oakland Athletics. Yordan Alvarez leads the team batting for .303 avg with 31 home runs and 74 RBI. 

Defensively they are allowing 3.33 runs per game and ranking #2 in the league. Justin Verlander leads the pitching staff with a 1.85 ERA, 134 strikeouts and 15 wins recorded for the Astros.

Probable Pitcher:

Cristian Javier (6-8, 3.14 ERA) will be on the mound for the Astros in the 3rd game of the series. Javier allowed a run on six hits and no walks while striking out four in six innings to take the loss during Sunday's game against the Guardians. He is 1-3 with an ERA of 5.59 and 46 strikeouts in 10 appearances versus the Athletics in his career.

 

BETTING TRENDS

The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Oakland's last 5 games when playing on the road against Houston.

Oakland are 0-5 SU in their last 5 games against an opponent in the American League.

The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Houston's last 10 games against Oakland.

Houston Astros are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games at home.

Prediction

The A's have lost 7 straight games and went scoreless in the last one. They'll try to avoid a sweep by sending Cole Irvin to the mound who has been outstanding this season and he has allowed 2 or less runs in each of his last 7 starts. Cristian Javier will take the mound for the Astros who has been good lately but the Astros have lost in his last 3 starts. Irvin will slow down the Astros offense so expect a close game this time and the under is the play.

PICK: Under 8 (-110)

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