Houston Astros at Oakland Athletics - 9/7/20 MLB Picks and Prediction

The Oakland Athletics need a win after losing four of their last five games. The Athletics have scored 11 runs in their last three games and three or less runs in six of their last eight games. The Athletics have lost eight of their last nine games when scoring three or less runs. Matt Chapman leads the Athletics with 33 hits and 25 RBI while Marcus Semien and Mark Canha have combined for 63 hits and 33 RBI. Chris Bassitt gets the ball, and he is 2-2 with a 3.72 ERA and 30 strikeouts this season. Bassitt is 2-2 with a 4.09 ERA and 31 strikeouts in his career against the Astros.

The Astros are 54-17 in their last 71 during game 1 of a series, 39-17 in their last 56 Monday games and 0-5 in their last 5 road games. The Athletics are 41-15 in their last 56 home games, 1-4 in their last 5 during game 1 of a series and 20-9 in their last 29 overall. The over is 4-0 in Astros last 4 overall. The under is 5-2 in Athletics last 7 home games. The Astros are 1-6 in the last 7 meetings in Oakland and 2-6 in the last 8 meetings.

Cristian Javier has allowed 13 runs and 20 hits in his last 31 innings while Chris Bassitt has allowed 15 earned runs and 28 hits in his last 32.1 innings. Not the best pitching matchup in the world, but the Athletics have played the better baseball this season and have had the edge over the Astros in recent meetings, winning six of the last eight contests. I'm more confident in the A's getting back on track than I am the Astros at the moment. I'll back the Athletics and I'll lay the RL to shave down the ML price.