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The Astros are off to a slow start to this season but won the opener of a three-game series with AL West rival Oakland Friday night. Which way are we going with our free MLB pick for Saturday?
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<h2>
MLB Betting Odds<br />
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<p>
Saturday's MLB betting odds opened Houston and Miley at around -150 over Oakland and Brooks, with an over/under of 8.5 runs. Early betting action then dipped that line about a nickel, to the -145 range at most <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/sportsbooks">sports betting sites</a>.
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<h2>
A's vs. Astros Set-Up<br />
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<p>
Houston took the opener of this series Friday night 3-2, winning as a -165 favorite. The Astros broke a 1-1 tie on a Carlos Correa solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, added another run in the seventh and hung on from there.
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Also, Friday's game played under its total of 8.5 runs.
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Earlier this week Oakland took three of four games from defending World Series champion Boston, with the pitching staff tossing two shutouts.
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Houston, meanwhile, dropped two of three games earlier this week at Texas.
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Last year the Astros took the season series from the A's 12 games to seven.
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<p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1WCkE5HG2U0&quot; width="560"></iframe></p>
<h2>
Saturday's Starting Arms<br />
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<p>
Lefty Miley (0-1, 4.50) opened this season with a rather typical effort for him, allowing three runs and eight hits through six innings of a 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay last Sunday. But it only took him 87 pitches to get 18 outs, which isn't too bad.
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<p>
Last year, pitching for Milwaukee, Miley finished just 6/16 on quality starts. But that ratio would have been better if not for a short leash; six times Miley got within three outs of a QS but got pulled. The Brewers went 12-4 with Miley, with the overs going 9-7.
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<p>
This will be Miley's first start against Oakland since 2017 when as an Oriole he held the A's to two ER through 13 innings of two outings.
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Brooks (1-0, 0.00) opened this season with a very winning effort, holding Boston scoreless on two hits through six innings, with one walk and six strikeouts, of a 7-0 Oakland win Monday. He needed 86 pitches to get 18 outs.
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Brooks “earned” that start by posting a 4.40 ERA over 14 1/3 innings at Spring Training.
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This will be Brooks' first start against Houston since 2015, and that's already a long time ago.
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<h2>
Saturday's Batting Splits<br />
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Oakland is hitting .254/.327/.493 against left-handed pitching this season.
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Houston is hitting just .231/.306/.318 against right-handed pitching this season, although you'd expect those numbers to begin to improve any time now.
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<h2>
The Bullpens<br />
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The A's bullpen has allowed 17 ER on 35 hits and 17 walks through 41 1/3 innings of work this season.
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The Astros bullpen has allowed just five ER on 14 hits and three walks through 20 1/3 innings this season.
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<h2>
Totals Report<br />
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<li>
The unders are 8-3 in A's games this season.
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The unders are 7-1 in Astros games this season.
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The overs finished 12-5-2 in A's-Astros games last season.
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The unders finished 42-37-2 in games played at Minute Maid Park last season, which averaged 8.2 runs per.
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<p><section></p>
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<li>
<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/1073788<br />
">Oakland A’s vs Houston Astros MLB Match-up </a> </span>
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</ul>
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