Houston (5-4) at Arizona (3-7)
When: Tuesday, August 4th 2020
Where: Chase Field,
Phoenix, AZ
Time: 9:10 ET | TV: Extra Innings
Opening Odds: Houston -110/9.5
The Arizona Diamondbacks were one of the dark horses coming into 2020 to compete for the NL Wild Card spot, but they won’t get anywhere near that if they don’t start hitting. After a day off on Monday, Arizona continues their seven-game homestand when they host the Houston Astros for the first of three on Tuesday. The D’backs are hitting only .192 as a team and have just two home runs in 10 games. They were handled at home over the weekend by the Los Angeles Dodgers, dropping three of four and are stuck in last place in the division. Houston also had a day off and will come in trailing the Oakland A’s by a half-game in the AL West. The Astros are on a long nine-game road trip and took two of three at the L.A. Angels to open the trek and will end it with three in Oakland over the weekend. Houston is second in the majors in runs scored (5.78) after platting 19 runners in the three games in Anaheim. This is the first meeting between the clubs since splitting six games in the 2018 season.
Pitchers: Astros – Cristian Javier (0-0, 1.35 ERA) | Diamondbacks – Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 4.09)
Cristian Javier will make his second big league start on Tuesday in Arizona and had a pretty successful debut last week. The Astros No. 6-ranked prospect held the might Dodgers to one run and two hits while striking out eight last Wednesday in a game Houston went on to lose in extra innings. He also threw one scoreless inning versus Seattle on July 25th – his Major League debut.
The D’backs will go with ace Madison Bumgarner on Tuesday, making his third start of the season. The big lefty has yet to get through the sixth inning in both starts and his fastball is averaging well below 90 mph. Bumgarner has nine strikeouts in 11 innings of work, but Arizona has lost both games he has started.
I really like this Javier kid for Houston and if he can shutdown the Dodgers in his first start, he should have no trouble with this lineup. Bumgarner is not the same pitcher he was a few years ago and I believe the Astros will tag him tonight.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free MLB Picks page for today. He is on a nice 4-1 run!
Pick: Astros -115
