Chicago White Sox vs. Houston Astros MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 6/17/2021

The Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros meet in MLB action from Minute Maid Park on Thursday night.

The Chicago White Sox will look to build on their 8-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays last time out. Zach Collins and Jose Abreu each had two RBIs with Abreu belting a two-run home run while Collins had a pair of hits. Andrew Vaughn went 3 for 5 with a double and an RBI while Yasmani Grandal and Jake Lamb each had an RBI. Tim Anderson went 2 for 5 with a double and Danny Mendick added a double as well while Leury Garcia added a base hit as well to cap off the offense for Chicago in the win. Lucas Giolito allowed three earned runs on four hits while striking out seven over six innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Ryan Burr ended up with the win in relief to improve to 1-0 on the year. Dylan Cease will start here and is 5-2 with a 3.38 ERA and 85 strikeouts this season. This will be Cease’s second career start against Houston.

The Houston Astros will look to build on their 8-4 win over Texas last time out. Chas McCormick led the Astros by going 2 for 4 with three RBIs while Jose Altuve added two RBIs. Martin Maldonado went 2 for 4 with a solo home run and a double while Carlos Correa added a double as well and Myles Straw chipped in an RBI of his own to cap off the scoring for the Astros in the victory. Michael Brantley went 2 for 4 at the dish while Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel each had a base hit to finish off the offense for the Astros in the victory. Zack Greinke got the win to improve to 7-2 on the year after allowing three runs on four hits while striking out four over 5.2 innings of work. Jose Urquidy will start here and is 4-3 with a 3.77 ERA and 55 strikeouts this season. This will be Urquidy’s first career start against the White Sox.

Chicago is 6-1 in their last 7 series-opening games and 5-1 in their last 6 games against the AL West while the under is 5-1-1 in their last 7 games as an underdog. Houston is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall and 4-1 in their last 5 games as a favorite while the over is 7-2 in their last 9 series-opening games. The under is 6-2 in the last 8 meetings between these two teams and 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams in Houston.

I get the case that could be made both ways here, but I’m not sure how much of a fan I am of Dylan Cease against any team that’s not the Detroit Tigers and Chicago tends to play far better against lefties. Houston just took it to the Rangers, and while this is a step up in competition, I just think the Astros end up with the W here so I’ll lay it and play it with Houston here.