Texas Rangers vs Houston Astros Prediction: This match could go either way

Monday's Major League Baseball action at Globe Life Field features a matchup between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers. This will be the last game of a weekend series that consisted of a total of four games. After splitting the first two games, the Astros came out on top with a two-run victory in game three on Sunday. 

During their triumph on Saturday, the Texas Rangers accumulated 15 hits as a team. The Rangers scored first in game three on Sunday and led 1-0 for most of the game. However, they were held scoreless until the eighth inning of that game. Andrew Heaney completed the first 5.0 innings of the game without allowing any runs, hits, or walks. On Monday, Texas will go first with Martin Perez at the helm of the starting lineup. This year, Perez has made 16 starts and has a record of 7-3 with a 4.28 ERA, 60 strikeouts, and 90.1 innings pitched. In his career, Perez has played 269 games (239 starts) and has a record of 82-80 with a 4.42 earned run average. In their past 68 games played in game four of a series, the Texas Rangers have a record of 22-46, and the over is 3-0-1 in their last four games played in game four of a series. In the Texas Rangers' last five games played on Monday, the total number of runs scored has gone under.

The Houston Astros won the first game of this series on Friday by a score of 5-3, but on Sunday they were defeated by a score of 5-2. On Sunday, the Houston Astros tacked on three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and went on to win 5-3. Shawn Dubin, the starter, was able to complete four innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks. On Monday, the Houston Astros will send out Cristian Javier with the hopes of earning the starting job. This year, Javier has made 16 starts and has a record of 7-1 with a 3.72 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 87.0 innings pitched. In 94 career games, 60 of which he started, Javier has a record of 27-13 with an earned run average of 3.20. In their last 69 games against teams from the American League West, the Houston Astros have a record of 49-20, and in their last 16 games played in game four of a series, they have a record of 11-5. The Houston Astros have gone over the total in each of their last 11 Monday games, going 11-0.

I'm going to take a shot on the Texas Rangers here. Perez is currently enjoying a rather nice run of form; over the course of his previous three games, he has a record of 1-1. During this time period, Perez has racked up six earned runs on 11 hits while also drawing six walks across 19.0 total innings. It was a relatively unproductive offensive day for Texas on Sunday, as only four different players managed to collect hits for the team. However, the Rangers will need to make a lot of modifications for the last game because neither the pen nor the field played particularly well.