Astros vs Rangers Series Preview: AL West Showdown

Gray, Eovaldi Look To Keep On Pitching In For the First-Place Texas Rangers

The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros are at the midway point of the season. Texas is sitting atop the American League West Division standings, while the defending World Series champion Houston Astros are just outside the final playoff spot in the AL. Keep that in mind when looking at the Astros vs Rangers series preview.

Houston is just 12-14 in June and dropped two games in the AL West standings to Texas during that time. The Los Angeles Angels have also picked up two games on the Astros.

Texas is 15th and Houston 18th in team ERA during June. Both are in the top five in home runs hit and in the top 10 in batting average during the month.

Houston’s Game 1 starter, Ronel Blanco starter has allowed seven home runs in his first four starts in June. That matches the number allowed by Texas pitchers Jon Gray and Nathan Eovaldi, who will get the starts in the series’ first two games.

Houston (+900) is fourth, and Texas (+1000) fifth in the odds of winning the World Series, and both rank pretty high in the MLB power rankings.

Probable Starting Pitchers

• Friday: Ronel Blanco (Astros); Jon Gray (Rangers)
• Saturday: Hunter Brown (Astros); Nathan Eovaldi (Rangers)
• Sunday: Framber Valdez (Astros); Andrew Heaney (Rangers)

Astros Swinging Hot Bats

Houston feasted on St. Louis Cardinals pitching, scoring 24 runs in back-to-back wins. The Astros seemingly had rallied in every at-bat as they were 12-of-32 with runners in scoring position.

The No. 1, 2 and 3 spots in the Houston order were 5-for-6 with runners in scoring position, with nine runs scored and 10 more driven in.  Still, Houston is the underdog as the series gets underway, according to the Astros vs Rangers series preview.

Getting Jose Altuve, who recently returned after missing some games with a heel injury, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker going will be crucial as the Astros look to make a run at Texas in the AL standings. There is some work to do with Houston currently trailing by five games.

The total has gone over in four of the last five games played by the Astros.

Duran Doubling His Pleasure

While his fellow infielders Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Josh Jung were voted into starting roles for the American League in the upcoming MLB All-Star Game, Ezequiel Duran is the hottest hitter for Texas right now.

Duran has five straight games with two hits, and he is batting .500 during that span with five runs and four RBIs. He has hit a home run in the last three games and is now hitting .326. It has been quite a jump from his rookie season when he batted .236 in 58 games. He was 0-for-4 in the series against the Astros earlier this season. He is one reason the Astros vs Rangers preview favors Texas in the series opener.

Four of the Rangers’ last five home games went over the total.

Who’s Hot

• Ryan Pressly, Houston Astros P: Pressly hasn’t allowed a hit or an earned run in his last five appearances. He has six strikeouts in six innings during that span.
• Yerry Rodriguez, Texas Rangers P: In his last six games, Rodriguez has given up one run in 5.2 innings.
• Marcus Semien, Texas Rangers 2B: Semien is hitting .429 with four runs, two doubles, and a home run during a six-game hitting streak.
• Kyle Tucker, Houston Astros OF: Tucker is batting .409 with three doubles, two home runs, seven runs and eight RBIs during a six-game hitting streak.

Who’s Not

• Bryan Abreu, Houston Astros P: Abreu has surrendered five hits and five runs in 5.1 innings over his last six games.
• Mitch Garver, Texas Rangers C: Garver is 2-for-14 with four strikeouts in his last four games.
• John King, Texas Rangers P: King has allowed five hits and seven runs with three walks over 6.2 innings in his last four outings.
• Jake Meyers, Houston Astros OF: Myers has three hits and nine strikeouts in his last 32 at-bats.

Astros vs Rangers Injury Update

The Astros continue to be without Yordan Alvarez, Michael Brantley, who leads the team with 17 home runs and 55 RBIs. Houston will have to wait until late July to get pitcher Jose Urquidy back.

For Texas, designated hitter Brad Miller and relief pitcher Glenn Otto could return in early July.

Astros vs Rangers Betting Preview

Neither Houston nor Texas is playing its best baseball right now. A series between the teams sitting in first and second place in the AL West standings will bring the best out of the two MLB teams.

There wasn’t much late-game drama when the teams played three games back in April, with Texas winning 6-2 and 9-1 and Houston picking up a 9-1 win.

The teams have split the last six meetings, with the road team winning three times. When looking at major league baseball scores, four straight games that finished over the total before the last two meetings went over with 10 combined runs scored.

Houston has won the last four times it has played Texas on the road. Early money is coming in on the series opener, going over the total.

Texas is 31-18 this season when listed as the favorite, including Astros vs Rangers in Friday’s opener. Houston is 13-10 as the underdog.

Texas is 26-15 record against the spread at home, one of the best marks in baseball. Houston counters with a 24-16 record ATS on the road. Texas is priced at -158 to win the series opener. Houston is at -110 to win the series and Texas is priced at -120.

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