Cleveland Guardians (17-20) vs. Houston Astros (27-15)
May 23, 2022 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Astros -181 / Cleveland Guardians +166; Over/Under: -8.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Cleveland Guardians and the Houston Astros meet in MLB action from Minute Maid Park on Monday night.
The Cleveland Guardians will look to bounce back from a 4-2 loss to the Tigers in their matchup on Sunday. Jose Ramirez leads the Guardians with 39 hits, 9 home runs and 37 RBIs along with a .283 batting average while Owen Miller has a .294 batting average with 12 doubles as well this season. Ramirez also has 8 doubles and Steven Kwan has 28 hits with 6 doubles as well as a .267 batting average this season. Ramirez has 3 triples while Andres Gimenez and Amed Rosario each have a pair of triples as well on the year. The Guardians did not have a starting pitcher announced at the time that this article was posted.
The Houston Astros will hope to build on their series win over Texas with a 5-2 win over the Rangers last time out. Michael Brantley has a team-high 40 hits with a .290 batting average while Yuli Gurriel has a team-high 14 doubles and Alex Bregman has 32 hits with 5 home runs and 23 RBIs. Yordan Alvarez has a team-high 12 home runs and 23 RBIs and Kyle Tucker has 7 home runs and a team-high 26 RBIs as well this season. Jeremy Pena also has 7 home runs and 22 RBIs of his own this season. Luis Garcia will start here and is 3-2 with a 3.35 ERA and 41 strikeouts this season.
Cleveland is 7-15 in their last 22 games as an underdog and 1-4 in their last 5 games overall while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 series-opening games. Houston is 20-6 in their last 26 games overall and 13-4 in their last 17 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 10-1 in their lat 11 games as a home favorite.
I get the reasoning for backing the Guardians here, but as good as the Guardians’ offense can be, we’ve seen them sputter here and there and while I don’t love the Houston Astros with how their offense has been lacklustre for a lot of the year, the reality here is that the Astros are playing the far better baseball right now and are not a team I want to step in front of, especially when the Guardians are my other option. Give me Houston -1.5 here.
