The Houston Astros have lost four straight games after getting swept by the Baltimore Orioles this week. The Astros will try to bounce back with a victory over the Cleveland Indians when the two teams kick off a four-game series this Thursday night in Cleveland.

Opening Odds Analysis

The Astros opened as -160 road favorites and have received enough betting action to bump the line up to Houston -177 and Cleveland +167. Significant action on the UNDER 9.5 runs has moved the total down to 8.5 runs as well. The OVER is 6-2 in Houston’s last eight road games against the Indians.

Starting Pitchers Analysis

Framber Valdez didn’t pitch that poorly last Saturday against the Detroit Tigers allowing six hits and three earned runs across six innings, but he still took a tough-luck loss as the Astros were defeated 3-1 in seven innings. Valdez fell to 4-1 on the year with a 2.11 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP across six starts.

Rookie J.C. Mejia’s first three appearances came out of the bullpen and went well as the 24-year-old allowed only one hit and struck out seven in five scoreless innings. Mejia’s first five starts in the major leagues haven’t gone as well as Mejia has compiled a 6.27 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP as a starter. The righty did have his best start to date in his last trip to the mound in a 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins with only one earned run allowed in six innings pitched.

Houston News & Notes

The Astros were cruising along as the hottest team in baseball with a 20-4 run carrying them through most of June. Their 11-game winning streak that ended last Thursday was called off by a 13-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles and a 12-3 win over the Detroit Tigers. And then suddenly the Astros hit an unexpected snag, going 1-5 over their next six games with two losses to the Tigers and three losses to the Orioles.

Houston was outscored 27-12 in its three-game series against Baltimore despite going off as favorites of -360, -290, and -275 in those three games. These recent losses have allowed the Oakland Athletics to close in on Houston’s lead in the American League East. The Astros enter Thursday’s action a half-game ahead of Oakland with a 48-33 record.

Cleveland News & Notes

Cleveland fell to 1-4 over its last five games with a pair of losses to Detroit in Wednesday’s double-header against the Tigers. The Indians pitching staff and bullpen have struggled during the team’s current slump allowing 7.4 runs per game over that five-game stretch.

This team has lost its three best starting pitchers in Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac due to injury. The Indians are built around their pitching staff and have finished in the top 10 in the major leagues in team ERA every year since 2015 including last season’s second-ranked 3.29 team ERA. But with some uncharacteristic struggles and this slew of injuries, Cleveland’s team ERA of 4.33 ranks 19^th in the majors in 2021.