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The New York Yankees and Houston Astros square off on Thursday with first pitch set for 1:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. The Yankees haven’t yet announced their starting pitcher, while Cristian Javier (6-5, 3.22 ERA) will throw for the Astros.
New York (64-28) will enter the post-All-Star Break with the best record in baseball going into Thursday’s doubleheader. The Yankees have the top offense in the sport with 5.4 runs per game, and Aaron Judge leads the league with 33 home runs to go along with 70 RBIs.
Houston (59-32) will head into Thursday afternoon’s matchup with the second-best record in the American League. Javier will make his 18th appearance and 14th start of 2022 and is coming off an outing where he struck out 10 batters but gave up 3 runs over 3.2 innings in a loss to the Los Angeles Angels. The Astros rank No. 5 in slugging percentage (.421), but they will remain without Yordan Alvarez, who has 26 homers and 60 RBIs and is on the injured list.
Yankees vs. Astros
Pitchers: Jordan Montgomery vs. Cristian Javier
First pitch: 1:10 p.m. ET
Yankees local broadcast: YES
Astros local broadcast: AT&T SportsNet-Southwest
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Astros -1.5 (+160)
Run total: 8
Moneyline odds: Astros -125, Yankees +105
Moneyline pick: Astros -125
The Yankees limped into the All-Star Break, losing seven of 13 games. New York and Houston split a four-game set a few months back and the Astros won a one-game series 2-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the season series. The Astros have plenty of power righties and Montgomery hasn’t seen this Houston lineup much the past few seasons.
Player prop pick: Cristian Javier Over 6.5 strikeouts (-150)
The Astros starter has been one of the top strikeout throwers in the league this season with a 12.9 K/9, and Javier put up insane strikeout numbers heading into the break. Over his final four starts, he struck out at least 7 batters with an average of 11 K’s per game through those outings. The Yankees rank in the middle of the pack when it comes to striking out with 8.4 K’s per game, but Javier should reach this total on Thursday afternoon.
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