After splitting the first two games, the Los Angeles Angels close out the three game series tonight against the Houston Astros.
The Astros took game two, 3-2, after a rally in the fourth inning led by a Jose Altuve double. The Angels won the series opener after young starting pitcher George Klassen delivered a career-best outing of seven scoreless innings.
After firing pitching coach Mike Maddux on August 11, the Angels simplified their approach to the dish. Less bandwidth on pitches – higher volume.
Rookie Walbert Ureña gave up three runs through five innings while striking out seven. Despite earning a loss, Ureña continued his stretch of quality starts.
The Astros have a clear pitching advantage tonight as Peter Lambert will face Grayson Rodriguez.
Lambert is 8-6 with a 3.11 ERA this season and has given up four runs through 11.1 innings against the Angels this season.
Rodriguez, on the other hand, has struggled with health and command. Rodriguez is 3-5 with a 7.17 ERA this season – including five runs in 10.1 innings against the ASstros.
The Angels’ offense still ranks low, sporting the 26th weighted on-base average. In 15 of their last 18 games, the Angels brought home three or less runs.
First Pick: Los Angeles Angels vs Houston Astros under 8.5 runs
Rundown: Rodriguez in theory is still a high-upside pitcher, but his health struggles have limited his production. One team he pitched well against though is the Astros. In two starts against them this season, he gave up two runs in 5.1 innings and 5.0 innings. Lambert’s two starts against the Angels mirrored that production – giving up two runs in each.
The Angels’ recipe for winning right now is quality pitching and a few timely hits – but they don’t score runs very easily.
Second Pick: Peter Lambert over 5.5 strikeouts
Rundown: Lambert struck out six Angels’ hitters in each of his starts this season. He averages 5.6 strikeouts per appearance this season as well. The Angels have the second-worst strikeout rate in the league at 25.2% and they rank third in total strikeouts with 1,197. In the first two games this series, they struck out 19 times.