In the night window of Saturday’s jam-packed 15-game MLB slate, the Houston Astros square off with the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim for the second straight day. Yesterday’s contest brough much contention, a near-brawl, and an extra-innings finish. Will tonight’s matchup bring the same level of entertainment?
Here’s an Angels vs. Astros prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for tonight’s 9:38 p.m. EST first pitch.
Angels vs. Astros prediction, preview
Los Angeles Angels
The Angels are now 36-39 following last night’s extra-innings loss. While the team showed brief signs of potential with a three-game sweep over the Yankees on the road before this series, it’s likely they fall right back to their usual level of play over the next couple of games against an AL West rival.
As mentioned in the write-up for yesterday’s clash, the Angels’ plate process leaves much to be desired with the second-fewest walks and second-most strikeouts in the MLB. That trend makes it difficult enough to win games when the bats are firing, which seems like a rarity for the little-brother Los Angeles lineup. At second-to-last in AVG, 24th in OPS, and 22nd in runs, the Angels have a difficult time at the dish. They did tally six hits last night via six different players, including homers by top prospect Christian Moore and Jo Adell, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to win.
Houston Astros
Enter the Astros, a first-place team with a 44-32 record and 8-2 stretch over their last 10 contests. They’ve weathered injuries to star slugger Yordan Alvarez (who remains on IL) and currently have five starting pitchers on IL, enough for an entire rotation. Somehow, they keep winning as their division leads grows slowly but surely.
Houston sits second in AVG and bumped their OPS to 11th last night, while their 324 runs sit 16th overall. Since May 24, they’re an MLB-best 18-7 with the fourth-highest OPS and ninth-most runs scored over the last 30 days. In Friday’s game, Jeremy Pena continued his excellent season with three hits and a homer, while Isaac Paredes and Jake Meyers each tallied multiple hits, too. Houston’s pitching staff truly excels, and after a slight kerfuffle when Hunter Brown hit an aggravated Zach Neto with a pitch, the Astros bullpen tallied eight punchouts with just one earned run allowed.
Angels vs. Astros pick, best bet
The Houston Astros are a +104 underdog on the Moneyline tonight, a big shift from how they were favored yesterday. The Los Angeles Angels hold -126 odds to win outright with the run total listed at eight again.
Jose Soriano’s name is on the lineup card as the Angels’ starter tonight. The right-hander has thrown 86.1 innings across 15 starts this season, notching a 3.54 ERA with a 1.46 WHIP and 70 strikeouts over that span.
Brandon Walter gets the start for the Astros after spending most of the year in Triple-A ball. The lefty has seen three starts for Houston with a fantastic 1.53 ERA and 0.91 WHIP, plus 19 strikeouts in 17.2 innings. The sample size remains very small, so it’ll be interesting to see whether his largely excellent play can continue, especially coming off a nine-strikeout game.
While Walter is a largely-unproven hurler, he’s performed admirably in his three starts for the Astros and faces a poor Angels order this evening. Houston’s bullpen is very capable of cleaning things up even if Walter falters, and with one of the MLB’s hottest offenses, it makes a lot of sense to take the visitors to win again at +104 on the Moneyline (or +166 at -1.5).
Best bet: HOU Astros ML (+105)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
