Astros vs. Rangers Showdown: Kikuchi's Second Start with Astros
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00:00The rubber match today in Arlington where Yusei Kikuchi makes his second start in an Astros
00:05uniform. Houston won his first start over the weekend after being acquired at deadline from
00:12the Toronto Blue Jays. Minus 132, the number in favor of the Stros on the road in Arlington,
00:19total of nine. What's the play today in the in-state showdown? Yes, you're creeping up,
00:24I guess, and rightfully so with Houston at that minus 120 price, you know,
00:28elevated now to the minus 130s. It feels a little bit like yesterday, sort of a disrespectful line.
00:32Now, not as important because Valdez clearly was the better pitcher on the mound. I still do think
00:37Kikuchi is the better pitcher today than Jose Ureña. You take a look at Ureña on the season,
00:41he actually has some pretty decent numbers, but over the past month he's fallen off a bit. His
00:45last 66 batters, a 237 iso against and a weighted on base percentage of 426. You got some good bats
00:52in that lineup that should be able to take care of business, but here's the issue that you might
00:56have. I do like you say Kikuchi, he's been dominant as a left-handed pitcher against left-handed
01:00batters all season long, particularly in the past 30 days, but against righties he's more average
01:05here. So you're going to get a lineup with a lot of right-handed batters going against Kikuchi and
01:09he is on the road. That should be a little bit of a test, but for me again, I'm just going to roll
01:13with the Astros. I just think they're a better overall team than the Texas Rangers. They won
01:16yesterday and I think they win again today.