Phillies vs. Astros prediction and odds for Saturday, April 29 (Zack Wheeler Gets Rolling in Houston)
By Josh Yourish
The Philadelphia Phillies got off to a pretty slow start to the season, maybe it was a World Series (appearance) hangover, but they got hot just in time for a World Series rematch with the team that beat them.
Last night, the Phillies took Game 1 of this three game series with the Astros, a small and incredibly insignificant slice of revenge. They’ll look to clinch a series victory tonight.
For Game 2 of this three-gamer the Phillies go with Zack Wheeler on the mound while the Astros hand the ball to Cristian Javier. Wheeler is 2-1 with a 4.73 ERA and Javier is 2-0 with a 3.21 ERA.
The Astros are home favorites in Houston. Here are the odds for Phillies and Astros Game 2.
Phillies vs. Astros odds, run line and total
Phillies vs. Astros prediction and pick
Cristian Javier is still a relatively young pitcher, but he does have one thing on his resume, other than the World Series last year, that not a lot of pitchers do.
He was a part, in fact the largest part, of a World Series no-hitter. The last time he faced the Phillies was Game 4 of the World Series in Philadelphia and he went a casual six innings and allowed no runs on no hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. The bullpen picked him up in that one, but Javier began the dominance.
I’m pretty sure that the Phillies aren’t very excited to be seeing Javier on the mound again, it could bring back more than a few bad memories for them.
Javier hasn’t been quite as dominant this season as he was in that World Series, he did have 10 strikeouts last time out, but he’s allowing an expected slugging percentage of .490.
Zack Wheeler on the other side has been more unlucky than bad. He has a 4.73 ERA, but a 2.64 FIP and an expected ERA of 3.24.
His numbers will look like a typical Zack Wheeler season sooner rather than later. Over the past week, the Astros are 26th in OPS as a team and 25th in runs scored. I think their lineup will have a tough time against Wheeler, so I like the under.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change