The Athletics hosted the Houston Astros last night and snapped the visitors’ winning streak with a walk-off homer by Nick Kurtz. Tonight, the A’s look to steal another game from their AL West rival, though the Astros won’t go down without a fight as they look to keep pushing further ahead in the division standings.
Here’s an Athletics vs. Astros prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday night’s action in the MLB late slate.
Athletics vs. Astros prediction, preview
Athletics
The Athletics won their 30th game of the season with last night’s walk-off victory, but they remain in last place among the AL West. Their winning streak now sits at four games though, and they’ll be energized in this one in Sacramento.
The A’s are in the top half of the league in both AVG and runs scored, so they have frameworks of a competent offense in place. They weren’t exactly rolling throughout the contest with just six hits across the entire game, but they got enough done to escape with the win. Max Muncy did pace the team with two hits while four other players notched one. Notably, shortstop Jacob Wilson went hitless, a rarity for the emerging star.
Houston Astros
The Astros are now 41-31 on the season but remain 7-3 across their last 10 contests. The good news for Houston is that their AL West lead remains safe at 4.5 games, but they need every one of the division wins they can get.
Despite last night’s loss, the Astros do have good news as Isaac Paredes returned to the lineup following a brief hamstring-related absence. He brings fantastic plate process and underrated power to the team, so his presence remains huge for this scrappy team. The Astros did tally eight hits to start this series but left plenty of runners stranded with just one run to show for their effort. Jose Altuve has played great baseball lately and kept rolling with a home run, but Jeremy Pena went hitless in four at-bats and needs to bounce back tonight.
Athletics vs. Astros pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the visiting Astros as -122 favorites on the Moneyline, while the Athletics hold +101 odds on the Moneyline with a run total of 11 — the slate’s highest mark.
These teams shook up their pitching rotations a bit yesterday, but the Athletics have a clear advantage tonight with J.P. Sears on the mound. The left-hander’s 5.08 ERA looks poor but he maintains a respectable 1.25 WHIP with 58 strikeouts in 72.2 innings. He makes up for the lack of punchouts by limiting walks with just 14 on the year.
As for the Astros, they start a pitcher who may be familiar to the A’s. With five starters on the IL, Houston recalled right-hander Jason Alexander from Triple-A yesterday and he’s in line to start against the team that DFA’d him just a month ago. He’s an emergency starter tonight, but he played pretty terribly in a limited relief sample to start the season for the Athletics. In 6.0 innings across four games, Alexander allowed 12 hits, 12 earned runs, three homers, and five walks while striking out just five batters. His ERA and WHIP are 18.00 and 2.83, albeit on a very small (but bad) sample.
This may feel like a nightmare scenario for the Astros with Alexander on the mound, but he pitched quite well with Houston’s Triple-A affiliate. In three starts and one relief appearance, he threw to the tune of a 1.74 ERA and 1.16 WHIP with 15 strikeouts in 20.2 innings. He did walk eight batters, but I’m going to zig where some may zag tonight and assume Alexander can pitch well in a revenge-game spot.
With that said, I’m taking the Astros to win on the Moneyline at -125 here. Even if Alexander struggles, he may be pulled early and Houston’s bullpen pitches much better than the Athletics’ does. It may take a comeback, but I expect the Stros to get their revenge for last night’s walk-off.
Best bet: HOU Astros ML (-125)
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