Overview
The Boston Red Sox look to avoid the sweep today in Houston when they take on the Astros in the final game of their three game series. The Astros took the first two games in fairly easy fashion winning 8-3 in game one and 4-2 in the second game.
Head to Head Trends
Red Sox are 15-7 in the last 22 meetings.
Over is 37-15-3 in Meals’ last 55 games behind home plate.
Houston Astros (-135)
The Houston Astros are 2nd in the American League West 2 games back of the 1st place LA Angels. The all-star break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Astros as they had lost their last 6 games and scored a total of just 7 runs heading into the break but those few days off made a huge difference as they have won 4 of 5 since while scoring 31 runs.
Starting for the Astros in this one is rookie Lance McCullers who is 4-3 with a 2.52 ERA in 11 starts this season. Since getting called up in late May McCullers has been probably the Astros best starter and he’s already had a few games with 10+ strikeouts so you know he has good stuff.
Houston Astros Trends
Astros are 4-1 in their last 5 overall.
Astros are 24-8 in their last 32 home games.
Boston Red Sox (+125)
The Boston Red Sox are last in the American League East 11 games out of 1st place. After being one of the top teams in baseball for the last 10 of so years it looks like the Red Sox might have some struggles for the next few years unless they do something big. The Sox have a fairly weak offense especially on the road where they are averaging just 3.58 runs per game and their pitching staff is not much better especially their starters who have a combined ERA of 4.88.
On the hill for the Red Sox today is lefty Wade Miley who is 8-8 with a 4.49 ERA on the season. Miley is kind of hit or miss. In his last start he allowed 1 hit over 7 innings but in his start before that he allowed 6 runs in just 5.1 innings of work so like a lot of average MLB pitchers you never know what your going to get.
Boston Red Sox Trends
Red Sox are 0-7 in their last 7 overall.
Red Sox are 6-20 in their last 26 games as an underdog.
Conclusion
I’m going with the Houston Astros over the Red Sox in this one. The Astros are a pretty good team and they play very well at home where they have a 32-17 record while the Red Sox just flat out suck in general.
Free Pick: Houston Astros -135
