Astros vs Royals Prediction - MLB Picks 9/16/23

Kansas City Royals (47-101) vs Houston Astros (83-65)

Game Info: Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 7:10 pm (Ewing M. Kauffman Stadium)

Cole Ragans (6-4) (3.13) vs J.P. France (11-5) (3.61)

Betting Odds: Kansas City Royals +133 / Houston Astros -145 --- Over/Under: 9.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds

The Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros do battle Saturday night in game 2 of an MLB series at Kauffman Stadium. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Houston Astros Betting Preview

The Astros look for a win after splitting their last 12 games. The Astros have a 0.5 game lead in the AL West. The Astros pitching staff is 9th in ERA (3.97), 15th in WHIP (1.29) and 5th in quality starts (65). The Astros offense is 5th in runs per game (5.14), 4th in batting average (.25.9) and 8th in homers (202). Alex Bregman leads the Astros with 152 hits and 94 RBI, while Kyle Tucker and Jeremy Pena have combined for 288 hits and 154 RBI. J.P. France gets the ball, and he is 11-5 with a 3.61 ERA and 96 strikeouts this season. This will be France’s first career game against the Royals.

Kansas City Royals Betting Preview

The Royals look to build on their 3-game winning streak. The Royals have the second-worst record in the AL at 47-101. The Royals pitching staff is 28th in ERA (5.19), 24th in WHIP (1.41) and 29th in quality starts (31). The Royals' offense is 25th in runs per game (4.09), 20th in batting average (.243) and 25th in homers (148). Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with 161 hits and 88 RBI, while Salvador Perez and MJ Melendez have combined for 242 hits and 117 RBI. Cole Ragans gets the ball, and he is 6-4 with a 3.01 ERA and 93 strikeouts this season. Ragans is 0-2 with a 5.56 ERA and 7 strikeouts in his career against the Astros.

Randy’s Pick

The Royals have won 3 straight games and Cole Ragans has been good this season, but I'm still not running to the window to get behind them. The Astros are comfortably the better team, no matter how you slice it, and they need to take advantage of these games as they look to close on a division title. J.P. France has been solid with his 3.61 ERA, and he's even better on the road, where he has a 2.60 ERA and .249 allowed batting average. Reasonable price. Give me the Astros for a bounce back win.

Randy’s Pick Houston Astros -145

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The pick in this article is the opinion of the writer, not a PickDawgz site consensus.
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