The Guardians make the trip to Houston to face the Astros! These two teams are heading in different directions with the Guardians playing very well and the Astros struggling at times this season. Our MLB odds series has our Guardians-Astros prediction, odds, and pick for Thursday.

The Guardians have been great this season at 19-10 but theytwo straight games. Their bats have been very good and are just outside the top 10 as a unit in the league. Their pitching has been a top-10 pitching staff as well. Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, and Josh Naylor have carried the Guardians behind the plate. Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, Triston McKenzie, and Ben Lively have held down the fort unbelievably well despite Shane Bieber being injured. The Guardians have been great to start the year but they need to get back on track after losing two straight games to start the year.

The Astros have opened this season struggling. They have a 10-19 record and have won three straight games heading into this spot. Despite their early struggles, their offense has been great with a top-three batting average as a team in the league. Jose Altuve, Kyle Tucker, Jeremy Pena, Yainer Diaz, and Yordan Alvarez have been great for Houston behind the plate. The issue is that, so far, they are getting shelled on the mound and are only in front of the Rockies, Angels, and White Sox in staff ERA as tied for third to last in the league. Justin Verlander is back and  Framber Valdez is finally back from injury too. However, Cristian Javier is still out with an injury. The Astros have the talent, and they seem like they are starting to figure things out more on the mound. 

Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Guardians-Astros Odds

Cleveland Guardians: +1.5 (-182)

Moneyline: +114

Houston Astros: -1.5 (+150)

Moneyline: -134

Over: 9 (-122)

Under: 9 (+100)

How to Watch Guardians vs. Astros

Time: 8:10 pm ET

TV: Space City Home Network / Bally Sports Great Lakes

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Guardians Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Guardians are going with Logan Allen on the mound and he has a 3-1 record, a 5.46 ERA, and a 1.40 WHIP. Allen has allowed 19 runs on 33 hits with 11 walks and 26 strikeouts. In his six appearances, the Guardians are 4-2. In his last start, he pitched 4.2 innings and allowed four runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts in a Guardians loss. Allen has been inconsistent this season and his path does not get any easier with a matchup against an offense as good as the Astros have been so far this season.

The Guardians are a very good team behind the plate. They are 12th in team batting average at .248 after finishing last season with a .259 batting average which was top five in the MLB. The offense is led by Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor lead the way in most of the batting categories. Steven Kwan leads the way in batting average at .350, in OBP at .395, and in total hits at 42. Josh Naylor leads the way in home runs at seven and Ramirez leads in RBI so far at 24. They get a very good matchup against Spencer Arrighetti for the Astros on the mound because of how much he has struggled this season.

Why The Astros Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Astros are putting Spencer Arrighetti on the mound where he has a 0-3 record, a 10.97 ERA, and a 2.34 WHIP. Arrighetti has allowed 13 runs on 18 hits with seven walks and 15 strikeouts through 10.2 innings. In his three appearances for Houston, the Astros have lost all three. In his last start, he pitched 3.2 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in a Houston loss. His appearance usually means that the Astros are going to use the majority of their bullpen, but he has struggled in a limited time regardless of start or not.

The offense for the Astros has been a huge bright spot so far this season. They are third in batting average at .265 after they finished last season with a team batting average of .259. Jose Altuve and Kyle Tucker lead the Astros in almost every important batting category. Altuve leads the team in batting average at .345, in home runs at seven with Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, in OBP at .414, and total hits at 41. Tucker then leads in RBI at 20. At least 10 Astros have hit a minimum of one home run. Three players are tied for the lead in home runs at seven. This offense has had to carry them this season and that will be no different against the Guardians, who have gotten solid play on the mound overall and we will see that again with Logan Allen for the Guardians.

Final Guardians-Astros Prediction & Pick

The Astros have a massive disparity between their pitching and bats and in this game there is no reason to trust Spencer Arrighetti at all after struggling and losing in three straight starts. The Astros have a loaded offense, but Allen for the Guardians has been solid overall on the mound. The Guardians have been very good behind the plate too and they should take advantage of Arrighetti's struggles. Expect the Guardians to not only cover, but win outright on the road.

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Final Guardians-Astros Prediction & Pick: Guardians +1.5 (-182)