Houston pays a visit to Oakland on Thursday, hoping to shut down the Athletics bats in baseball action at O.co Coliseum.

For the Athletics, Sonny Gray gets the ball, charged with keeping the Astros hitters off the base paths. He'll face Erik Bedard, 3-8 on the year.



View Houston vs Oakland Odds and Stats.

Betting Line:
The Athletics were listed as -230 moneyline favorites earlier in the day at Sportsbook, while oddsmakers set the Sportsbook total around 8 earlier at Sportsbook.

Power Rankings:
The MLB Power Rankings show a disparity between these teams, with the Athletics rated this week at No. 7 and the Astros sitting at No. 15.



How They Match Up:
Rating these teams in several key categories is important for handicappers and Oakland has the American League's No. 8-rated offensive output, at 8.3 hits per game. The Astros average 7.8 hits per game, good for No. 15 on the American League list.

Comparing defensive stats, Houston owns the American League's No. 13-rated road mark, allowing 4.7 runs per game on the highway. Oakland, on the other hand, rates No. 10 in scoring at home.

The Astros were a 2-1 Sportsbook in their most recent outing on the road against the Athletics. That made Sportsbooks of bettors who got Houston at +235 on the moneyline, while the total score (3) was good news for UNDER bettors. Houston won a close affair on Wednesday in their last outing, defeating Oakland 2-1 in extra innings at O.co Coliseum.

A few Astros at Athletics trends to consider:
The total has gone OVER in 13 of Houston's last 18 games when playing Oakland
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Houston's last 6 games when playing Oakland
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Houston's last 6 games when playing on the road against Oakland
Houston is 5-13 SU in its last 18 games on the road
Oakland is 13-3 SU in its last 16 games when playing Houston
Oakland is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games when playing at home against Houston
The total has gone OVER in 13 of Oakland's last 18 games when playing Houston
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Oakland's last 6 games when playing Houston


Next up:
Houston at LA Angels, Friday, August 16
Oakland home to Cleveland, Friday, August 16