Texas Rangers at Houston Astros Betting Preview/Prop Picks
10 August 2022
Two AL West teams continue their series tonight as the Texas Rangers face the Houston Astros. The Rangers, with a record of 48-61 this season, lost last night to the Astros 7-5. Although they lost, it's important to note that their offense kept up with them.
The Astros are a high-scoring team, and the Rangers held up their end. They'll hope to do much better in tonight's game.
After beating the Texas Rangers, the Houston Astros moved to 71-40. They lead the AL West and took over the American League with last night's win. There are a few key factors that go into tonight's game, but the main one is the starting pitchers.
We're going to take a look at that along with each team's performance at the plate. Once we're finished, we'll deliver our pick for tonight.
Texas Rangers: Rangers come in at a massive disadvantage
Before we go over who the Rangers have on the mound, we're going to look at yesterday's game. The final score ended at 7-5, but the Rangers took a 3-0 lead by the end of the third inning.
From that point on, it was all Houston, who scored four runs in the fourth inning to tie it up 4-4. The reason why this was allowed to happen is because of the Rangers pitching.
The Rangers will send out Glen Otto tonight, who has a record of 4-8 this season. Although his record is pretty awful, his ERA is worse. At 5.31, Otto has allowed 71 hits in 78 innings pitched and 11 home runs.
Considering he's going against a strong batting group, the Rangers are in some trouble. Not to mention, the Astros are starting one of the best pitchers in the league.
Houston Astros: Justin Verlander takes the mound tonight
The Houston Astros are sending out one of their best, Justin Verlander. Verlander has an ERA of 1.73 with a 15-3 record this season. Through 130 innings, he's thrown 127 strikeouts and allowed just 88 hits.
With Verlander on the mound, the Astros become the clear favorite to win this game. Even the odds currently have the Astros at -335 as they head into this game.
On top of the Astros starting their best pitcher, they have a strong batting lineup. This season, the Astros have a batting average of .241, ranking 16th overall.
They have an on-base percentage of .316, ranking 11th, and rank sixth in slugging percentage (.422). In each of these categories, the Astros rank higher than the Texas Rangers.
Texas Rangers vs. Houston Astros Betting Pick
Through their last ten games, the Texas Rangers have lost seven games. Playing Justin Verlander and the Astros equals another loss in our eyes. Verlander has been nearly perfect this season with one of the best ERAs in the league. We'll definitely take the Houston Astros at -335 in tonight's game.
Houston has a 35-17 record at home this season and is 14-1 in their last 15 home games against Texas. With a history like that, it only makes sense to take the Astros tonight. We'll take the under as well, considering Verlander is on the mound.
DUNKELINDEX Free Pick: Houston Astros -332, UNDER
Prop Picks
Texas (-115) UNDER 2.5 Runs
Houston is allowing 3.29 runs per 9 innings on defense, which ranks No. 2 in the league. That average decreases to 3.21 runs per 9 innings at home. Scores have gone UNDER in seven of the Astros’ last nine games overall.
With Dunkel predicting a Houston home victory by the score of 4-2, take the Rangers (-115) to finish UNDER their Vegas team total of 2.5 runs against the Astros.
Houston (-230) Most Hits
Texas is allowing 8.14 hits per 9 innings on defense, which ranks No. 16 in the league. Houston is allowing 6.84 hits per 9 innings, which ranks No. 1 in the league. That average decreases to 6.75 hits per 9 innings at home.
With Dunkel predicting an Astros home win while holding the Rangers UNDER their Vegas run total, take Houston (-230) to finish with more hits than Texas.
Justin Verlander (-150) To Record A Win
Verlander has 15 wins in 20 starts this season, which ranks No. 1 on the Astros and No. 1 in the league. The right hander has 2 wins in 2 starts with a 0.69 ERA against Texas.
With Dunkel predicting a Houston victory, take Verlander (-150) to record another win against the Rangers.
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