<p>After taking a series from the Dodgers in LA over the weekend, the Angels head to Houston for a three-game AL West series starting Monday night. Luis Garcia, who's pitched in a bit of tough luck this season, is slated for the start here for the Astros, while Los Angeles, as of this writing, was playing coy with its pitching assignment. Here's how we break this one down, with our <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/free-mlb-picks&quot; title="Free Expert MLB Picks">free MLB pick</a> at the end. </p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/odds&quot; title="Live MLB Betting Lines">Monday's baseball betting odds</a> opened Houston at around -130 for this game, with an over/under of eight runs. That's without the Angels listing a starting pitcher.</p>
<h2>Angels-Astros MLB Betting Preview </h2>
<p>Los Angeles just took two of three games at home from the Dodgers over the weekend, winning Sunday's series rubber match 2-1. But just before that, the Angels got swept four games by Tampa Bay, and just before that, they lost a series in Seattle. Going back a bit further, Los Angeles is only 4-8 over its last 12 games.</p>
<p>Houston, meanwhile, just took two of three games at home from Toronto over the weekend, winning Sunday's rubber match 7-4. Just before that, Houston lost two of three games to the Yankees in New York, but just before that, it took two of three games at Tampa Bay. So the Astros are 5-4 over their last nine games.</p>
<p>At 18-16 overall, Houston sits in second place in the AL West, two games back of first-place Oakland.</p>
<p>At 15-18 overall, the Angels trail the A's by 4.5 games in that divisional race.</p>
<p>The Astros lead the season series with Los Angeles four games to two.</p>
<h2>Monday's Pitching Match-Up </h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/366286&quot; title="Luis Garcia Pitching Logs">Garcia</a> is 0/4 on quality starts this season, to go along with a couple of appearances in relief. But he's actually been pretty good so far. Last Wednesday, he gave up three runs on two hits and two walks through 4 2/3 innings of a 6-3 Houston loss. But over his four appearances previous to that, he only allowed four runs and ten hits through 16 2/3 innings, with 19 strikeouts.</p>
<p>On the season, the Astros are 0-4 when Garcia starts, but that's not all his fault.</p>
<p>In his only career start against the Angels, about five weeks ago, Garcia gave up two runs on four hits and three walks through just 3 1/3 frames of a 7-6 Houston defeat.</p>
<p>As of this writing, Los Angeles had not listed a starting pitcher for this game, but we've got a good idea of whom it won't be, and it's not going to affect our free MLB pick here.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>The Angels are batting an ML-high .271 against right-handed pitching this season, with a .325 team OBP and a .438 slugging percentage. Numbers like that cause us to rank this lineup among the top five in baseball in this split. However, Los Angeles has also been held to three runs or less six times over its last eight games, and it's still operating without a pretty good stick in Anthony Rendon. The Angles also just dumped Albert Pujols, although that's probably a good thing.</p>
<p>Houston is batting .250/.312/.424 against right-handed pitching this season, .272/.331/.419 vs. left-handed pitching. The Astros have also scored at least seven runs three times over their last four games.
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<span style="font-size:16px;"><b><span style="color:#008000;">Get more details:</span></b> <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1355936">LAA/HOU 5/10/21 Matchup Stats</a></span>
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<h2>The Bullpens </h2>
<p>The Los Angeles bullpen owns a 5.12 ERA this season, fourth-worst in the MLB, along with a 1.51 WHIP, which is also fourth-worst. So we rank this unit among the worst bullpens in baseball right now.</p>
<p>The Astros pen owns a 4.02 ERA and a 1.25 WHIP.</p>
<h2>Totals Report </h2>
<ul>
<li>Overs are 20-13 in Angels games this season.</li>
<li>Overs are 20-12 in Astros games this season.</li>
<li>Overs are 4-2 in Angels-Astros games this season.</li>
<li>Overs are 10-7 in games played at Minute Maid Park this season.</li>
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