Houston Astros vs Kansas City Royals Prediction: Texans to begin another winning streak

Houston won eight straight games and broke the winning streak in the third game of the home series with Kansas, losing 4-7. Will the Astros be able to win game four against the Royals? Let's pick a few bets at once.

Dusty Baker's team has been on an insanely strong run lately. Eight straight wins through Game 3 of the series with Kansas City, are just the tip of the iceberg. Houston has 16 wins in their last 20 games and absolutely the best record in the American League during that stretch. Overall, the Astros are second in the conference with a 53-28 balance, just 5.5 wins behind the conference-leading New York Yankees.

Justin Verlander himself is the starting pitcher for Houston's fourth game in the series with Kansas, 10-3, and a 2.03 ERA in 15 games this season.

The Royals are certainly behind Houston with three games played, but it's worth noting that even one win in three games against today's Astros is a success. In game three, Kansas loaded up on Houston's starting pitcher Xavier for 5 full innings and closed the game 7-4. Brad Keller got the pitching win; Scott Barlow recorded the save. First base Hunter Dozier singled at bat with 3 RBI. Kansas now stands at 30-50 and is still in penultimate place in the American League standings.

Kris Bubic will pitch for Kansas in Game 4 of the series with Houston, 1-5, and a 7.06 ERA in 12 games.

The score in the season series is 4-2 in favor of Houston.

Houston has hardly lost lately, and certainly not twice in a row. In the upcoming game, there is not a single reason for the Astros not to win. Justin Verlander will surely take care of the Kansas City Chiefs' offense, and Kris Bubic is unlikely to improve much on his season-long numbers.

Prediction: confident win for Houston.

Betting options:

• H1 (-1.5) for 1.68;
• ITO1 (5.5) for 2.15;
• W1+TO (7.5) for 2.15.

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