Houston Vs. Boston: Can Astros Make It 3 In A Row On ESPN's 'Wednesday Night Baseball'?

Tonight, the Boston Red Sox and Houston Astros play game three of their four-game series at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The Astros took the first two games by scores of 11-2 and 5-1.

Boston is now two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East with a record of 32-22. The Astros are 30-24 and 0.5 games behind the Oakland Athletics in the AL West.

How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on ESPN

Game preview: Nick Pivetta takes the mound for Boston for his 11th start of the season. Boston is 9-1 in his starts and has scored at least four runs in all but two. However, Pivetta is experiencing some regression having given up eight earned runs over his past 11 innings pitched.

Houston starter Framber Valdez made his season debut on May 28, going four innings and surrendering one earned run. He spent the beginning of the season on the injured list due to a broken finger, so it will be interesting to see how long of a leash he has in this game. He had a solid 2020 season, holding a 3.57 ERA.

In the first two games of the series, Houston held Boston’s offense at bay while getting multi-hit performances from Kyle Tucker. Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, and Jose Altuve all came through with big games in the series opener. Last night, Houston starter Luis Garcia went seven innings, giving up just one run.

Betting odds (courtesy of BetMGM):

Who is the public betting on? According to scoresandodds.com, the public money is overwhelmingly on the Houston moneyline at 80% of bets placed. 62% of bets are on the under of eight total runs. With the performance of Houston’s offense in this series, I would take the over in this game and the Astros to take a 3-0 series lead.