Oakland Athletics vs Houston Astros Predictions, Betting Odds, Picks

• Battle of the underrated pitchers on the mound
• Astros surging, A’s falling as of late
• X-factor to watch on both sides

Oakland Athletics vs Houston Astros Odds

Odds presented by: DraftKings Sportsbook

Trends to Watch

• Athletics are 9-1 in their last 10 games following an off day
• Athletics are 44-16 in their last 60 road games vs. a left-handed starter
• Athletics are 69-28 in their last 97 games vs. a left-handed starter
• Athletics are 2-6 in their last 8 vs. a team with a winning record
• Under is 4-1 in Athletics last 5 games vs. a left-handed starter
• Under is 5-2 in Athletics last 7 vs. a team with a winning record
• Astros are 8-3 in last 11 head-to-head meetings
• Over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings
• Astros are 12-4 in their last 16 games vs. a right-handed starter
• Astros are 24-9 in their last 33 games following a win
• Astros are 81-36 in their last 117 games as a home favorite
• Astros are 35-17 in their last 52 overall
• Over is 10-1 in Astros last 11 vs. American League West
• Over is 7-1 in Astros last 8 games as a home favorite

Oakland Athletics at Houston Astros Predictions and Picks

Garcia’s 2021 record: (34-29-2)

How to Watch Oakland Athletics vs Houston Astros

Battle of the Underrated Pitchers on the Mound

Neither of them are household names, but Chris Bassit and the A’s heading into play against Framber Valdez and the Astros very well might be the best pitchinig matchup of the night

Valdez was hurt early on in the season but has appeared in mid-season form since his opening start at the end of May.

In his past six starts, the 27-year-old from the Dominican Republic has gone 5-1, going seven innings or more in five of the games, and held his opponent to three runs or fewer in every start.

He has a 2.18 ERA on the year with a 1.04 WHIP and has struck out 41 batters in 45.1 innings.

On the other side, Chris Bassitt might be one of the largest All-Star snubs in all of baseball this year. He is tied for fourth-best in the league with a 9-2 record, to go along with a 3.04 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 109 strikeouts in 106.2 innings.

Not to mention, the Athletics are absolutely dominant when he’s on the mound. They lost the first two games he started this year but since then they’re an absurd 13-2 when he pitches. His ERA has been 2.62 since the start of May.

That opening loss for Bassitt came against these Astros when he threw 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on four hits and striking out three.

Astros Surging, A’s Falling

Houston had a strange week not that long ago, losing five of six to the Tigers and Orioles.

Prior to that, they had a 12-game winning streak, and currently, they’ve won four straight — so that’s what brings us to a red-hot Astros team that’s 17-5 over the past 3+ weeks.

As they’ve done that, the Athletics have fallen — going 5-10 in their past 15 games and but 12-10 over their past 22 (they’d won seven in a row before this skid).

Still, that five-game difference was enough to vault Houston from 1.5 games back, to a season-high 3.5 games ahead in the AL West race heading into this pivotal battle.

These teams have already met 10 times this year — Houston is 7-3 in those games — which means after this series, there’s only two more chances to face each other, putting even more importance on this contest.

Part of the reason Oakland is struggling? It’s not getting any production from some of its best hitters. This past week Ramon Laureano, Matt Olsen and Matt Chapman are a combined 9-of-66 with one home run, three RBIs and 15 strikeouts.

As for Houston, they continue to win because they have the best offense in baseball by a significant margin — scoring 39 or more runs than every other team in baseball.

And the scary part is they haven’t even been healthy. The Stros were missing four regulars from their lineup at alternating times as they swept the Indians out of Cleveland.

Houston was missing Kyle Tucker (back spasms), Yordan Alvarez (paternity list), Martin Maldoonado (bereavement), and Michael Brantley (right side) but the expectation is that all of them could be back for this contest.

X-Factors to Watch

Houston has so many dominant hitters to identify, we really are just looking for who has the best chance against Bassitt — so someone that can handle righties.

That leads us to Michael Brantley who has torn righties apart this year. In 160 at bats, Brantley paces the team in almost every category including batting average (.381), on-base percentage (.424) and OPS (.987).

For Oakland it’s going to be Matt Olson — a lefty who hits lefties surprisingly well and someone the A’s could use to get back on track. The big man is hitting .286 against southpaws with a .358 OBP and .930 OPS.