The Houston Astros continue their quest to win back-to-back World Series titles and head to California to face the Los Angeles Angels in a three-game series. The Astros are 13-3 SU in their last 16 games on the road and own the best road record in MLB this season. The ‘Stros will send Dallas Keuchel to the mound to stifle the Angels, who have been awful vs left-handed pitching this season with a .676 OPS which ranks 25th in baseball. Houston opened as a -122 favorite to continue its winning ways on the West coast.
- The Astros are 6-1 SU in their last seven games with Dallas Keuchel as the starter.
- The Astros are 13-3 SU in their last 16 games on the road.
- The Angels are 9-18 SU in their 27 games vs left-handed starters this season.
To see the Astros vs Angels matchup page, click here.
Pitching Matchup is Fairly Even
Lefty Dallas Keuchel is on the bump for Houston and after a wonky start to the season where the Astros went 2-5 SU in his first seven starts, he and the ‘Stros have started to right the ship. Since the beginning of June, Keuchel has lowered his ERA from 4.13 to 3.55 in eight starts with the Astros winning six of those games while also going 6-2 ATS. This is the southpaw’s his first outing in 2018 against the Angels and he owns a career 3.67 ERA in 15 starts against the division rival.
As for the Angels, they’ll counter with a lefty of their own in Tyler Skaggs, who has also been a steadying presence for an Angels squad that hasn’t had much to rely on outside of Mike Trout. Skaggs is rocking an excellent 2.57 ERA in 17 starts this season and the Angels are 5-1 SU in his last six starts overall. Another thing going for the Skaggler is he historically done very well vs the Astros with a 4-2 record in eight starts and a 2.76 ERA. From a bettors’ perspective looking for an edge, it will be hard to find one with both of these hurlers on their A-Game lately.
Astros Are the 2018 Road Warriors
Although Minute Maid Park is a beautiful field to behold, Houston has been killing it on the road this season as it leads MLB by averaging 5.27 runs in away games while also ranking first in OPS and batting average. That offensive surge has pushed the Astros to 13-3 SU in its last 16 games on the road while owning the best road record in MLB at 32-14 SU in 43 games.
Another factor that makes the Astros so enticing in this matchup is how the Angels fare vs left-handed pitching this season as Los Angeles is ranked 25th in OPS, 29th in batting average and 26th in RBIs against southpaws in 2018. It shouldn’t be a coincidence that the Angels are also 9-18 SU in 27 games when vs left-handed starters this year.
Totals Bettors Should Eye The Under
The total opened at 8 and trends are pointing to an UNDER in this tilt. The UNDER has hit in three of the last four games in this matchup with an average combined score of 5 runs per game. Another factor to consider the UNDER is the average combined score in Dallas Keuchel’s last five starts is 5.6 runs per game.
