Houston Astros at Boston Red Sox 6/10/21 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Houston Astros travel on the road to Fenway Park to close out a three-game set against the Boston Red Sox. The Astros have dominated the Red Sox thus far this season, winning four of five games including this series opener 7-1 to improve to 34-26 on the season and crawling to 1.5 games back in the AL West. Boston swept the Yankees on the road after avoiding a four-game sweep with the Astros and trails the Rays by just 1.5 games in the AL East.

Boston’s shocking start to the start has been in large part to the resurgence of their lineup that is sixth in scoring offense averaging 4.92 runs per game and hitting .257 as a team, which is the third-best mark in the MLB this season. Rafael Devers has had an exceptional start to his year driving in an impressive 48 runs which is tied for first in the MLB with a team-high 15 home runs. JD Martinez raced off to a start but has “cooled” in the last month, he is still hitting over .300 with 12 home runs and 39 RBIs. 

The left-handed Eduardo Rodriguez will get the ball for the Red Sox in his 12th start of the yera, he’s hasn’t been incredibly impressive going just 5-4 with a 5.59 ERA. But the hope, and expectation, is that he’ll find his groove from a couple of years ago when he posted sub-4 ERAs in back-to-back years. Rodriguez pitched 5 ⅓ scatting three runs on five hits while striking out seven against the Yankees. 

Houston has also continued to be one of the best offenses in the MLB and comes in hitting .268 as a team while leading the MLB in scoring offense averaging 5.33 runs per game. The danger of this Astros lineup is the depth that it presents from top-to-bottom. First baseman Yuli Gurriel is leading the Astros hitting .333 and 42 RBIs, adding 8 long balls. Shortstop Carlos Correa went ⅗ with a double and a two-run-homer in the series opener, his team-high 11th of the season. 

The Red Sox have really struggled to hit the Astros pitching in the first five matchups between these two, scoring over two runs in just one of those games. With aging star right-hander Zack Greinke it isn’t going to get any easier, he’s 6-2 with a 3.38 ERA on the season. Greinke is coming off a complete game in his last outing, allowing six hits and a solo home-run in a 13-1 Astros win.