Baltimore Orioles (24-54) vs. Houston Astros (48-30)
June 28, 2021 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Astros -300 / Baltimore Orioles +266; Over/Under: 8
(Get latest betting odds)
The Baltimore Orioles and the Houston Astros meet in MLB action from Minute Maid Park on Monday night.
The Baltimore Orioles will be out to rebound from a 5-2 loss at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday. Ryan Mountcastle had a solo home run while Ramon Urias chipped in a double and an RBI of his own to finish off Baltimore’s scoring as a team in the loss. Ryan MCKenna added a pair of hits while DJ Stewart, Austin Hays and Maikel Franco each had a base hit to cap off the offense for the Orioles in defeat. Jorge Lopez took the loss, falling to 2-10 on the year after allowing five earned runs on ten hits while striking out a pair over 4.2 innings of work. Thomas Eshelman will start here and is 0-1 with a 7.27 ERA and 4 strikeouts this season. This will be Eshelman’s second career start against Houston.
The Houston Astros will look to bounce back from a 2-1 loss in extra innings at the hands of Detroit last time out. Carlos Correa plated the lone RBI for the Astros in the loss while Myles Straw had a pair of hits and Jason Castro added a base hit as well as the Astros mustered up just three hits as a team in the loss with the rest of Houston’s lineup batting 0 for 23 with 10 strikeouts in the loss. Jake Odorizzi threw five scoreless innings in the start with three strikeouts, not factoring in the decision. Blake Taylor took the loss in relief to fall to 0-2 on the year. Zack Greinke will start here and is 8-2 with a 3.56 ERA and 70 strikeouts this season. In his career, Greinke is 3-2 with a 4.73 ERA and 43 strikeouts against Baltimore.
Baltimore is 26-60 in their last 86 games against the AL West and 16-35 in their last 51 Monday games while the over is 4-1-1 in their last 6 games as a road underdog. Houston is 6-0 in their last 6 games following a loss and 6-1 in their last 7 games against the AL East while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games as a home favorite. The over is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.
The Astros disappointed in their weekend series against Detroit, but the bottom line is that they’re heads and shoulders the better team here and you have to feel for a pitcher like Tom Eshelman who is just put in a bad spot. The Astros are cranky after that showing in the Steel City and I expect Greinke to come out and deliver a gem here. Give me the Astros on the run line in this one.
