Oakland Athletics vs Houston Astros MLB Betting Preview— 8-28-18
A major contest within the American League West will take place this evening as the Oakland A’s rumble with the Houston Astros. This is game two of a three-game series and will take place at Minute Maid Park. Houston opened up the series with an 11-4 win and they now lead the season series 11-6. This contest has a start time of 8:05 pm ET.
Lines: Oakland +179… Houston -189… O/U 8.5
Pitching Matchup
Toeing the slab for the A’s will be Edwin Jackson and he has gone 4-3 with a 2.97 ERA in 11 starts on the year, including 1-1 with a 3.07 ERA in five starts on the road. In his career, he has gone 46-62 with a 4/66 ERA in 192 games (151 starts) on the road and 26-22 with a 3.90 ERA in 67 games (57 starts) during the month of August, while against the Astros he has gone 2-2 with a 4.11 ERA in nine games (eight starts), including 0-1 with a 3.26 ERA in four games (three starts) here at Minute Maid Park.
Charlie Morton will take the hill for the Astros and he has gone 13-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 25 starts on the year, including 8-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 13 starts here at home. In his career, he has gone 19-9 with a 3.72 ERA in 34 starts here at Minute Maid Park and 11-18 with a 4.28 ERA in 42 starts during the month of August, while against the A’s he has gone 1-1 with a 3.80 ERA in four starts.
Game Analysis
The Oakland A’s took a step back last night with an 11-4 loss in game one of this huge series. They did have a 4-0 lead in the game, but then the Houston offense showed up and Oakland’s pitching just couldn’t stop the bleeding. Oakland has now dropped to 2.5 games out of first in their division, but they still own a 4.5 game lead over the Mariners for the 2nd wildcard slot. Can they bounce back in this one? The A’s are still 40-27 on the road and they have lost more than one game in a row just once in the last month. Let’s also note that Jackson has a 188 ERA in his last five starts. They can bounce back, but will they. They had a chance to grab game one, but their pitching didn’t hold up. That was surprising as Brett Anderson did come in with a 0.67 ERA in his last four starts. He allowed five ERs in just 2.2 innings of work to fall to 3-4 with a 4.02 ERA on the year. The A’s have averaged 5.54 rpg and have allowed 4.55 rpg on the road so far.
The Houston Astros have had the lead in the division for much of the year and after taking game one, they now have a little breathing room. The Astros lead the division by 2.5 games now and they look to increase the lead tonight. They have not been as good at home as on the road, but don’t tell the A’s that right now. The Astros have a +57 run differential, compared to a +167 run differential on the road. Still, they took game one and were led by their offense, which has now averaged 8.20 rpg over their last five games. They have won their last 6 games in a row and have outscored those foes by 15 runs over that stretch. Alex Bregman had a huge game in the opener as he had four hits and four RBIs. On hit was his 25th homer of the year. Tyler White had two hits, including his 4th homer of the year and drove in four runs. The Astros have gone 34-29 at home and they have averaged 4.48 rpg and have allowed 3.62 rpg in those games.
Trends
The Athletics are 25-6 in their last 31 after allowing 5 runs or more in their previous game… The Athletics are 17-6 in their last 23 vs. American League West… The A’s are just 9-20 in their last 29 games here in Houston.
The Astros are 37-16 in their last 53 home games vs. a right-handed starter… The Astros are 55-25 in their last 80 after scoring 5 runs or more in their previous game… The Astros are 2-9 in their last 11 home games.
