2020-09-17 19:10:00 EDT
The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros meet Thursday in MLB action at Minute Maid Park.
The Texas Rangers look for a win after splitting their last 10 games. The Rangers have scored eight runs in their last three games and three or less runs in four of their last eight games. The Rangers have lost seven of their last eight games when scoring three or less runs. Isiah Kiner-Falefa leads the Rangers with 53 hits and seven RBI while Nick Solak and Joey Gallo have combined for 74 hits and 43 RBI. Jordan Lyles gets the ball, and he is 1-4 with a 7.80 ERA and 27 strikeouts this season. Lyles is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA and eight strikeouts in his career against the Astros.
The Houston Astros need a win after losing seven of their last 10 games. The Astros have scored five runs in their last three games and three or less runs in six of their last nine games. The Astros have lost six straight games when scoring three or less runs. Carlos Correa leads the Astros with 45 hits and 23 RBI while Yuli Gurriel and Kyle Tucker have combined for 88 hits and 58 RBI. Framber Valdez gets the ball, and he is 3-3 with a 4.08 ERA and 57 strikeouts this season. Valdez is 0-2 with a 6.92 ERA and 16 strikeouts in his career against the Rangers.
The Rangers are 17-35 in their last 52 games as an underdog, 15-36 in their last 51 road games and 7-22 in their last 29 overall. The Astros are 54-21 in their last 75 home games, 116-54 in their last 170 games as a favorite and 3-9 in their last 12 overall. The over is 16-7-1 in Rangers last 24 road games. The under is 3-1-1 in Astros last 5 overall. The Rangers are 1-12 in the last 13 meetings in Houston and 3-14 in the last 17 meetings.
Jordan Lyles has allowed 12 runs and 17 hits in his last 18.1 innings while Framber Valdez has allowed 16 runs and 21 hits in his last 19 innings. I thought about taking the Rangers and the big plus money because the Astros being this big of a favorite in their current form is a joke. However, the over seems like the better bet, as both of these pitchers have been rocked lately and their season numbers aren’t great. We should easily see double-digit run totals in this contest.
