Baltimore Orioles vs Houston Astros Prediction: Both teams are not playing poorly

On Thursday, Major League Baseball action will take place at Oriole Park, featuring a matchup between the Houston Astros and the Baltimore Orioles. This will be the second game in a trilogy consisting of three total entries. The Houston Astros were victorious in their season opener on Wednesday thanks to a thrilling comeback victory.

Over the past weekend, the Baltimore Orioles defeated the New York Mets in a sweep consisting of all three games. Adley Rutschman and Ryan O'Hearn both drove in runs for the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday during their 2-0 win. On Wednesday, when they were playing the Houston Astros, Baltimore had a 6-2 lead going into the eighth inning, but they were unable to maintain their lead. Rutschman, James McCann, and Ryan Mountcastle all contributed two runs batted in each. On Thursday, Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jack Flaherty will take the mound for his team. Flaherty has a record of 8-6 after 21 starts, with a 4.28 earned run average, 114 strikeouts, and 115.2 innings pitched. Flaherty is coming off a win over Toronto in which he allowed one earned run over 6.0 innings.

Over the course of the weekend, the Houston Astros took on and defeated the New York Yankees in four games, emerging victorious twice. During the victory on Sunday, 9-7, Jake Meyers hit two home runs and drove in six runs. In the ninth inning of Wednesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros third baseman Kyle Tucker hit a grand slam, which ultimately led to the team's comeback victory of 7-6. Jeremy Pena contributed to the victory by collecting three hits and one RBI. On Thursday, Houston Astros pitcher Cristian Javier will take the ball to start the game. This year, Javier has made 21 starts and has a record of 7-2 with a 4.39 ERA, 107 strikeouts, and 112.2 innings pitched. In his last seven outings, Javier has a record of 0-1 with an 8.16 ERA and has given up 29 earned runs across 32.0 innings pitched.

I'm going to take a stab and go with the Baltimore Orioles here. In his last three outings, Flaherty has not done too poorly, as he has allowed eight earned runs across 17.0 total innings on 20 hits while also walking five batters. In that span of time, he has a record of 1-1, and a strong performance in game two is not out of the question. Since he has eight earned runs in his last 16.1 innings, Javier should do quite well for himself as a pitcher. On Wednesday, the Baltimore Orioles had a really decent offensive evening overall, but after the fourth inning, there were no more runs scored. Although it won't be easy, I believe the Orioles will be able to recover from their poor performance in the first game of this series.