The Cleveland Guardians and the Houston Astros meet Tuesday in MLB action from Minute Maid Park. Here’s a Houston Astros vs Cleveland Guardians prediction. This will be the first installment in a three-game series. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for the game.
Cleveland Guardians Betting Preview
The Guardians are coming off a weekend series versus the Atlanta Braves. Cleveland took a 6-2 loss in the Friday opener of that set, but then fought back for a 4-2 win in game two. In the Sunday rubber match, the Guardians ended up dropping the series with a 4-3 loss. Steven Quan and Andres Giminez each managed an RBI in the defeat.
In the starter role for the Tuesday game versus Houston, Cleveland will send out Carlos Carrasco. Over his five starts this year so far Carrasco is 1-2 with a 4.63 ERA and 20 Ks in 23.1 innings total. Over 308 career games (261 starts), Carrasco is 108-95 with a 4.05 ERA.
Houston Astros Betting Preview
Over on the Astros’ side, they played a pair of games versus the Rockies in Mexico City over the weekend. Houston won both of those matchups, taking the Saturday game 12-4 and the Sunday matchup 8-2. In the finale victory, the Astros got home runs from Jose Altuve (three runs), Kyle Tucker (two RBI) and Jeremy Pena (two runs).
It’ll be Hunter Brown in the Tuesday starting pitcher slot for the Astros. So far this year across his five starts Brown is 0-4 with a 9.68 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 17.2 frames. Brown is 13-17 with a 5.07 ERA in 43 games (36 starts) in his career.
Guardians vs Astros Injury Notes
Houston SP Cristian Javier threw a bullpen session on Sunday. Javier is on the 15-day Injured List with a neck issue.
Houston Astros Team Facts
- The Astros have lost each of their last 11 night games at Minute Maid Park following a win.
- The Astros have failed to cover the run line in each of their last 11 night games at Minute Maid Park following a win.
- The Astros have lost the first inning in four of their last six games as favorites.
- The Astros have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last six night games against opponents that held a winning record.
- The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Astros’ last seven games.
Cleveland Guardians Team Facts
- The Guardians have won each of their last four games as underdogs against AL West opponents.
- The Guardians have covered the run line in 11 of their last 12 games as underdogs following a road loss.
- The Guardians have led after 3 innings in each of their last four games against AL West opponents.
- The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Guardians’ last four games at Minute Maid Park.
- The Guardians have led after 5 innings in each of their last four games as underdogs against AL West opponents.
Houston Astros vs Cleveland Guardians Prediction
I’ll probably stay with the Guardians. Both these starters could use a good outing, though. Carrasco is coming off a rough loss to the Red Sox with 5.0 innings, five earned, nine hits and a walk. Prior to that however, Carrasco was 1-1 with three earned on nine hits and eight walks in 10.1 innings over two starts. As for Brown, he coughed up nine earned runs in 0.2 frames on 11 hits and a walk back on April 11 versus the Royals. Since then Brown has been better with five earned on nine hits and five walks in 10.0 innings over his last pair. He lost both of those, though.
The Guardians have been scoring pretty well lately with three or more runs in eight of their last 10 games. They’ll need to keep the bats going in this one, but Cleveland should have some scoring opportunities on Tuesday.