Cleveland Indians vs. Houston Astros MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 7/21/2021

The Houston Astros host the Cleveland Indians in MLB action from Minute Maid Park on Wednesday night.

The Cleveland Indians will look to rebound from a 9-3 loss at the hands of Houston on Tuesday night. Cesar Hernandez had a double and two RBIs while Amed Rosario added a double and an RBI of his own to finish off the scoring for Cleveland in the losing effort. David Johnson and Ernie Clement each had two hits while Austin Hedges, Harold Ramirez and Bradley Zimmer each had a base hit to finish off the offense for the Tribe in defeat. Triston McKenzie took the loss, falling to 1-4 on the year after allowing five runs on eight hits while striking out three over four innings of work. Eli Morgan will start here and is 1-3 with a 7.86 ERA and 28 strikeouts this season. This will be Morgan’s second career start against the Astros.

The Houston Astros will look to build on their beatdown of the Indians from Tuesday. Kyle Tucker went 3 for 4 with a home run, a double and three RBIs while Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Michael Brantley all had two RBIs to cap off Houston’s scoring as a team in the win with Altuve belting a pair of home runs while Brantley added a double. Carlos Correa added a double as well while Yuli Gurriel had three hits and Myles Straw added a base hit as well to finish off the offense for the ‘Stros in the win. Luis Garcia got the win to improve to 7-5 after tossing six shutout frames, allowing just three hits while striking out eight. Lance McCullers Jr. will start here and is 7-2 with a 2.80 ERA and 99 strikeouts this season. in his career, McCullers is 2-2 with a 5.82 ERA and 23 strikeouts against Cleveland.

Cleveland is 2-7 in their last 9 road games and 2-10 in their last 12 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 5-1-1 in their last 7 game three matchups. Houston is 8-1 in their last 9 Wednesday games and 14-5 in their last 19 game three matchups while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games as a favorite.

I get the case that could be made for both sides as the Indians are bringing a lot of plus money with a decent team while the Astros are playing the better ball right now and just woke up in a big way on Tuesday. Instead, I’m going to side with the under. Eli Morgan’s pitched competently in his last couple of starts while McCullers Jr. has been rock solid all season long. I think a mini pitcher’s duel could be brewing here, so give me the under.