The Houston Astros finished the first half of the season with a 64-35 record, opening up a five-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the AL West and a 14-game lead over the Los Angeles Angels. The Astros will try to put even more distance between themselves and the rest of the division with a win this Friday night in their series opener against the Angels.
Astros vs. Angels 2018 odds: Houston road betting favorite for Friday night
The Houston Astros look to pick up where they left off in the first half with a win over the Los Angels Angels on Friday as road betting favorites at the sportsbooks.
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Houston is a -130 road betting favorite in Anaheim at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Dallas Keuchel gets the call for the Astros while Tyler Skaggs will try to lead Los Angeles to a win as +110 home underdogs.
Houston Astros at Los Angeles Angels
When: Friday, July 20, 10:07 p.m. ET
Where: Angel Stadium, Anaheim, California
Betting Line / Total: Houston -130 / 8 Runs
Houston Astros
In a testament to just how good this Astros pitching staff is, former team ace Dallas Keuchel has actually been Houston’s worst starter in 2018 despite a respectable 3.75 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. The left-hander has been rounding into form of late however with a 1.35 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a perfect 3-0 average over his last three starts.
Keuchel has allowed two runs or less in five of his last six starts and has pitched well enough to help Houston earn the win in six of his last seven starts.
The Astros entered the all-star break in the midst of a 3-4 slump. They had won each of their previous six games before this run.
Los Angeles Angels
Thanks in large part to the 71 runs, 25 home runs, 50 RBI, 15 stolen bases and .310 batting average from their five-tool all-star Mike Trout, the Angels managed to reach the all-star break with a winning record at 49-48. Skaggs was also a star for this team in the first half, leading the Angels in wins (7), ERA (2.57) and strikeouts (105). With the bar to earn a Wild Card spot in the AL this year currently projecting out to 97 wins, the Angels don’t have much room for error in the second half.
Friday night’s total is set at eight runs. The UNDER is 7-2-1 in the last 10 meetings between these two division rivals according to the OddsShark MLB Database. This series wraps up over the weekend with projected matchups of Justin Verlander vs. Nick Tropeano and Lance McCullers Jr. vs Andrew Heaney.
For more odds information, betting picks and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.
