Oakland Athletics (49-38) vs. Houston Astros (53-33)
July 7, 2021 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Astros -140 / Oakland Athletics +130; Over/Under: 9
(Get latest betting odds)
The Oakland A’s and the Houston Astros meet in an AL West division matchup in MLB action from Minute Maid Park on Wednesday.
The Oakland A’s will look to rebound from a 9-6 loss at the hands of the Astros on Tuesday. Matt Olson led the charge with two RBIs while Elvis Andrus, Chad Pinder and Jed Lowrie each had an RBI with Lowrie and Andrus each having a double. Stephen Piscotty and Ramon Laureano each had a double as well while Matt Chapman added a base hit to finish off the offense for the A’s in the loss. Chris Bassitt allowed six runs on eight hits while striking out six over 4.1 innings of work, not factoring in the decision. J.B. Wendelken took the loss in relief to fall to 1-1 on the year as a result. Sean Manaea will start here and is 6-5 with a 3.13 ERA and 102 strikeouts this season. In his career, Manaea is 3-6 with a 3.57 ERA and 73 strikeouts against Houston.
The Houston Astros will try to build on Tuesday’s outstanding showing over the A’s when they take the field here. Yordan Alvarez led the charge with a pair of home runs and five RBIs while Jose Altuve went 2 for 5 with a double and two RBIs. Myles Straw and Yuli Gurriel each had an RBI to finish off Houston’s scoring as a team in the win while Abraham Toro had a pair of hits and Michael Brantley and Kyle Tucker each had a base hit to finish off the offense for Houston in the victory. Framber Valdez allowed five runs on ten hits with six strikeouts over five innings of work, not facoring in the decision. Bryan Abreu got the win in relief to improve to 3-3 on the year while Ryan Pressly closed out the 9th for his 15th save of the season. Luis Garcia will start here and is 6-5 with a 3.14 ERA and 90 strikeouts this season. In his career, Garcia is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 11 strikeouts against Oakland.
Oakland is 9-2 in their last 11 game two matchups and 1-4 in their last 5 games as an underdog while the over is 8-3 in their last 11 division games. Houston is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a left-handed starter and 7-1 in their last 8 Wednesday games while the over is 5-1 in heir last 6 home games. The over is 5-0 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.
This is a tough one to call as there’s value across the board here, but I’m going to lean the way of the A’s here. Luis Garcia and Sean Manaea cancel each other out in the starting pitching department, and side-by-side, I think we’re just getting some great value in a division rivalry game with Oakland. If the A’s are going to be taken seriously here, they’ve gotta take the Astros out in spots like this. I’ll take a shot with Oakland here.
