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The Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros square off on Sunday with first pitch set for 2:10 p.m. ET. The game takes place at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Oakland’s starter will be Adam Oller (0-3, 9.00 ERA), and Houston will send Jake Odorizzi (4-2, 3.38 ERA) to the mound.
I want to say the A’s (31-61) need the All-Star break more than anyone, but I don’t think a few days off will solve this team’s issues. They won the series opener but lost game two on Saturday. They outhit the Astros 7-6 but couldn’t turn that into any runs. After the All-Star break, Oakland will welcome the Detroit Tigers to town for a brief doubleheader. Oller will be making his 10th appearance of the season and only his fifth start. In his last extended outing, he pitched five innings and gave up six hits and eight earned runs against the Los Angeles Angels.
The Astros (59-31) are 3-2 in their last five games, but Justin Verlander had a fantastic outing on Saturday. He got five runs of support and pitched six innings while giving up six hits and striking out 10. Martin Maldonado clobbered a grand slam in the second inning, and honestly, the game was over then. Odorizzi is hoping for a similar experience in this game. He is making his 10th start of the season and his second in a row against Oakland. He pitched seven innings and gave up four while striking out seven on the way to his fourth win of the year.
A’s vs. Astros
Pitchers: Adam Oller vs. Jake Odorizzi
First pitch: 2:10 p.m. ET
Athletics local broadcast: NBC Sports California
Astros local broadcast: AT&T SportsNet Southwest
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Odds, picks & predictions
Run Line: Houston -1.5
Run total: 8
Moneyline odds: Oakland +240, Houston -285
Moneyline pick: Houston -285
The Astros overlooked the A’s in the first game of the series and took the loss. From a grand slam and a great outing from Verlander, they took game two. Oller likely signals a bullpen day for the A’s, which benefits the Houston lineup. While they have scored just six runs so far in this series, I think they take game two and head into the All-Star break on a win.
Player prop pick: Kyle Tucker over 0.5 hits (-225)
The Athletics have had Tucker’s number this series as he is 0-8. He is hitting .249 on the year and has never faced Adam Oller. Tucker is a talented hitter, though, and this recent spell won’t last for long. He will get off this hitless steak and tally one base knock on Sunday.
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