Houston Astros at Texas Rangers 4/26/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions
The Houston Astros will hope to turn around a sluggish start to the year when they go on the road to Globe Life Field to take on the Texas Rangers. Houston had lost four straight before pulling out an 8-7 win in the tenth inning against the Blue Jays, they remain one game under .500 at 7-8 in the young season. The Rangers have won three of four, but are a dismal 1-5 on their home field and 5-10 overall on the year.
Houston, controversy or not, has been a perennial contender to win the World Series over the last five years. Behind a strong pitching staff and a loaded offense, they’ve made the playoffs six often last seven years including three trips to the World Series. It could be the loss of Carlos Correa or just a sluggish start, but this is as bad as the Astros’ offense has looked in some time hitting .209 which is 26th in the MLB.
The right-hander Jake Odorizzi will get the ball for the Astros after three rough outings to open the year. Odorizzi has allowed 12 runs on 16 hits while issuing has seven compared to just five strikeouts across 9 innings of work. Odorizzi has had his struggles since his injury in 2020 but was a solid rotational arm last year posting a 4.21 ERA in 104.2 innings. He’ll need to bounce back on the road against a Rangers offense that is top-10 in scoring offense.
The Rangers might be in the bottom half of baseball in batting average hitting .228 as a unit, but timely hitting has lifted them to 8th in scoring offense. It’s been a balanced effort even with Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien struggling to a start. Catcher Jonah Heim has been a big piece hitting .360 while tying for the team lead with 2 home runs and 9 RBIs, despite seeing just 25 at-bats in eight games.
The 27-year-old lefty Taylor Hearn will get the ball after a couple of rocky starts to open the year, Hearn has allowed 9 runs on 19 hits and posted a 2.25 WHIP across 10.2 innings. Hearn worked his way into the back end of the rotation last season, making 11 starts and posting a season ERA of 4.66 across 104.1 innings, by far the most of his career. Opponents this season are hitting a scorching .367 against him, but he proved last season he can be a competent MLB starter if he settles down.
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The Astros’ offense needs to get going, it’s a long season but the longer a slump drags on, the harder it is to get out of. This game presents a perfect opportunity for an offensive breakout against a young, struggling pitcher following a couple of decent performances at the plate. Even with Correa, this offense has a ton of young firepower that is simply too talented to be performing this poorly for this long. The Astros offense breaks out and grabs the lead early, allowing Odorizzi to settle down and work deeper into this game than his previous starts. Final score prediction, Astros win 6-4.