For the second time in as many nights, the Arizona Diamondbacks host the Houston Astros for a showdown in the desert at 9:40 p.m. EST on Tuesday. The visitors escaped with a win to start the series, but can the home team get their mojo back after coming out hot following the All-Star break?
Here’s a Diamondback vs. Astros prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday night’s contest.
Diamondbacks vs. Astros prediction, preview
Somehow, the Astros keep weathering the insanely-long list of injuries that should be holding them back. Their IL includes a staggering 17 players, seven of whom are starting pitchers. Houston did get Chas McCormick back to man one of the outfield spots on July 19, but they’re still very shorthanded without slugger Yordan Alvarez as well as All-Stars Isaac Paredes and Jeremy Pena.
That didn’t matter yesterday as the Astros improved to 58-42 atop the AL West with a 6-3 road victory over the Diamondbacks. Houston’s lineup mustered 10 hits on the evening with multi-hit games from Christian Walker, McCormick and Brice Matthews, but it was the latter who stood out most with two home runs and five RBI in just his fifth MLB appearance. A fun fact regarding the rookie — he’s put nine balls in play over his short stint in the majors with an average exit velocity over 102 mph.
Arizona did tally eight knocks of their own with Josh Naylor and James McCann recording multiple hits while Eugenio Suarez kept mashing with yet another home run, his fifth blast over his last four games. Ultimately, the six earned runs allowed by Zac Gallen were too much to overcome even though the bullpen threw quite well once they entered the game. The Diamondbacks’ offense remains one of the MLB’s most formidable units and boasts much more star power than Houston’s patchwork lineup, but they’ll have their work cut out for them against a lefty ace.
Diamondbacks vs. Astros pick, best bet
The Astros head into this matchup as -120 Moneyline favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook while the Diamondbacks are -101 underdogs to win outright at home. The run total sits at 8.5 for this outing.
DraftKings Network just introduced a new probable pitchers page to track daily starter matchups, so give that a look ahead of the action! In Tuesday’s contest, Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (5.94 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 90 SO) duels Houston southpaw Framber Valdez (2.75 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 125 SO).
There’s a clear advantage for the Astros in that matchup as Valdez brings elite stuff to the bump while sitting 98th percentile in ground-ball percentage. He’s one of the league’s best lefties and should have a nice outing tonight against a Snakes lineup with poorer splits against left-handers. While the Diamondbacks are a great offense overall, I still like Valdez to get the better of them tonight and produce at least six strikeouts, a mark he’s hit in seven of his last 10 starts with an average of 7.4 per outing. It feels especially safe since he tends to throw pretty deep into games, so I’m chasing the plus-value here tonight.
Best bet: Framber Valdez over 5.5 strikeouts (+120)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
