The second leg of a three-game series will take place in Space City Tuesday evening when the Los Angeles Angels collide with an American League West rival in the Houston Astros. The Halos dropped Monday’s contest by an 8-3 final. The Astros sport a 6-4 record so far, whereas LA is 6-5.
Lefty Framber Valdez will stride to the rubber for the hosts as one of two Houston hurlers to boast an ERA under 1.00. In 9.2 frames, he’s given up only four hits and one earned run while striking out nine challengers. Valdez already defeated the Angels once this young campaign.
The Angels trot out a southpaw, as well, in Patrick Sandoval. The team downed Miami, 4-3, in his initial start. He struck out a half-dozen in four innings in that one.
Angels at Astros Stats
Los Angeles Angels Stats
In what fans near and far are hoping will be the Angels’ season to reach the playoffs and the national stage with a pair of the sport’s brightest supernovas in tow, Los Angeles is off to a reasonable start.
The Angels have five batters who’ve recorded more than one home run so far, including center fielder Jo Adell and backstop Max Stassi. Shohei Ohtani, with his sensational, do-it-all talents has picked up where he left off from his 46-homer season in 2021. He went yard on back-to-back days in his team’s series with Texas.
A special player in his own right, center fielder Mike Trout has slugged a pair of long balls, too, and has an on-base percentage of .405. First baseman Jared Walsh has been comfortable on the road, hitting for a .455 average in three away outings.
Having driven in 49 runs, Los Angeles ranks among the leaders in the AL in that statistical category.
Sandoval, who hasn’t yet finished a campaign with a winning mark, had a 3.62 ERA with 94 strikeouts last year.
Houston Astros Stats
Valdez has watched last year’s success – he had the second-best ERA in his major league career, won 11 games, and punched out 125 – carry over into this schedule, Judging by their early hitting struggles, the Astros might need all the defensive help they can gather.
Shortstop Jeremy Pena paces Houston with a .344 average and third baseman Alex Bregman with seven RBIs. Nine different team members have generated runs via the long ball.
Batting a collective .215 and going down on strikes an average of seven times per contest, the Astros rank at or near the bottom third of the league in hits (71) and RBIs (38). After designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, a handful of players with at least 22 at-bats have averages of less than .182.
If the Astros want to even sniff another run to the World Series, they will have to aim to get more production out of their lineup.
Matchup Information
Angels at Astros Betting Trends
Angels at Astros Betting Prediction
Glancing at the main sportsbook MLB betting odds, the Astros are favored to come out on the right side of this one. Houston is -1.5 on the run line at +135, while the Angels are -160 to cover the spread. On the moneyline, the Astros are -160, while Los Angeles is a +135 underdog. The total is marked down at 8.5 runs, with the over being -105 and the under -115 as of this writing.
The Astros have won three of the first four in this season’s series. MLB expert picks suggest that this pattern won’t hold for long.
Conclusion
Both crews look primed to have solid showings this go-round. The Astros prop up a 3.19 ERA at this juncture, the third-best in the AL, while Los Angeles leads the MLB with 15 home runs, one more than Toronto, who was on a tear to start the season out.
Despite not being the strongest offensively, Houston made the most of its eight base hits Monday, with left fielder Michael Brantley, designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, and Bregman each notching multi-hit performances.
This one will probably come down to the matchup between Sandoval and Valdez, with the Angels’ bats being the difference in winning the battle. Follow the MLB betting trends and choose Los Angeles to upend division-leading Houston.
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