The Houston Astros drew first blood in their AL West season series with the Seattle Mariners, taking the opener of this three-game series Friday night. Who do we like for our MLB pick for Saturday’s contest?
MLB Betting Odds
Saturday’s MLB betting odds opened Houston and Verlander at around -160 over Seattle and Hernandez, with an over/under of 8.5. Early betting action then steamed that line up to -185.
The Astros could also be found “getting” around -120 giving the run and a half on the MLB run line.
Astros vs. Mariners Set-Up
Houston took Game 1 of this series Friday night 10-6, winning as a -140 favorite on the MLB betting line and covering against the run line pat a price of +115. The Astros spotted the Mariners an early 3-0 advantage, then took the lead for good on a Jose Altuve grand slam in the top of the sixth inning. Yuli Gurriel added another grand slam in the top of the eighth and Houston hung on from there.
Also, Friday’s game flew over a total of nine runs.
With Friday’s victory, Houston now owns a seven-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, Friday’s defeat halted Seattle’s six-game winning streak.
This series is the first meeting this season between these division rivals. Last year Seattle took the season series from Houston 10 games to nine.
Saturday’s Starting Arms
Hernandez (1-0, 4.26) is 0/2 on quality starts this season. Twelve days ago he gave up three runs – one earned – on seven hits through 5 1/3 innings of a 6-3 Mariners victory over the Angels. Then Monday he gave up two runs and three hits in one inning against Kansas City, then left the game with an illness. Seattle ended up winning that game 13-5, so it’s 2-0 this season with King Felix.
In his only start, last year against the Astros Hernandez allowed four runs and five hits through six innings of a 7-4 Mariners win.
Verlander (1-0, 4.24), by our strict standards, is 1/3 on quality starts this season. Most recently he gave up three runs and seven hits and two walks through six innings in a 4-3 Houston victory over the Yankees. So far this season the Astros are 2-1 with Verlander, with the unders going 2-1.
In his only start, last year against Seattle Verlander got tagged for six runs and three home runs in two innings of an 8-6 Houston loss.
Saturday’s Batting Splits
The Astros are batting .280/.352/.447 against right-handed pitching this season. This lineup has also scored at least six runs in five of its last six games.
The Mariners are batting .290/.359/.536 against RH pitching this season. This lineup has also scored at least six runs each of its last eight games.
The Bullpens
The Houston bullpen owns a 3.10 ERA this season, a 1.03 WHIP and a 51/11 strikeouts/walks ratio.
The Seattle bullpen owns a 4.95 ERA, a 1.43 WHIP and a 61/35 K/BB ratio.
Totals Report
- The unders are 9-5 in Astros games this season.
- The overs are 12-3 in Mariners games this season.
- The unders played 10-9 in Astros-Mariners games last season.
- The unders played 42-37-2 in games played at T-Mobile Park last season, which averaged 7.9 total runs per.
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Get more details:
Astros vs. Mariners Prediction 4/13/19
