Houston Astros at Oakland Athletics odds, picks and best bets

Geoff Clark | USA Today Sportsbookwire

The Houston Astros (21-19) head to the Bay Area for the first of a 5-game series against the Oakland Athletics (23-14) on Monday. The first pitch is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. ET at the Oakland Coliseum. Below, we analyze the Astros-Athletics MLB betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.

Astros at Athletics: Projected starting pitchers

RHPCristian Javiervs. RHPFrankie Montas

Javier: 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 8.1 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 37 ⅔ IP over 8 G (7 GS).

Last start: Win, 2-1, with 6 ⅔ IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 K and 2 BB against the Texas Rangers on Sept. 2.
Career vs. Athletics: 0-1 with a 15.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 5 K and 3 BB in 5 ⅔ IP in just one career start versus Oakland. Javier made his MLB debut this season.

Montas: 2-3 with a 6.06 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 9.1 K/9 and 5.0 BB/9 in 32 ⅔ IP over 7 GS.

Last start: Loss, 6-3, with 3 ⅓ IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 K and 2 BB versus the Astros on Aug. 29.
Career vs. Astros: 3-3 with a 4.63 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 26 K and 14 BB in 35 IP over 8 G (6 GS).

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Astros at Athletics: Key injuries

(Get the latest injury news here.)

Astros

3BAlex Bregman(hamstring) questionable
OF Josh Reddick (elbow) questionable
2BJose Altuve(knee) out
OFYordan Alvarez(knee) out
RPRoberto Osuna(elbow) out

Athletics

3BMatt Chapman(hip) questionable
SS Marcus Semien (oblique) out

Also see:BaseballHQ Fantasy Baseball

Astros at Athletics: Odds, lines, picks and betting tips

MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access Paste BN Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 1:15 p.m. ET.

Prediction

Athletics 6, Astros 1

Moneyline (ML)

The Astros (+115) dropped the first four games of their west coast road trip to the Los Angeles Angels coming into Monday. TheAthletics (-129)lost their previous series, 2-1, to the red-hot San Diego Padres and have struggled of late, going 4-6 in their last 10. However, Oakland does hold a 3-2 season series lead over Houston.

Montas has been up and down all season-exemplified by hisquality start towin over the Astros Aug. 8, and then the 6-3 loss to them in his last start. Javier has a 6.39 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in away games (compared to a 1.80 ERA and 0.68 WHIP at home).

Let's say the Astros' road losing streak goes to five andTAKE ATHLETICS (-129).

New to sports betting? A $12.90 bet on the Athletics (-129) pays a $10.00 profit if Oakland beats Houston.

Run line/Against the spread (ATS)

TheAthletics -1.5 (+150)have the best run line record as a home favorite (10-7 RL), and the Astros +1.5 (-182) are 8-10 RL in road games. Oakland's familiarity with Javier will help them score more than four runs for the first time in six games, and Montas has back-to-backquality startswhen the Astros face him in Oakland.

I'd place a smaller wager on this to make sure we'd profit on an Athletics win. A $5 bet on the Athletics -1.5 (+150) returns a $7.50 profit.

Over/Under (O/U)

Each team's lineup is better against lefties than righties. Plus we're banking on Montas having better stuff today and the Athletics' bullpen has the MLB's lowest ERA. The Under is 5-2 in the last seven Astros-Athletics games and 5-0 in Oakland's last five during game 1 of a series.

BET UNDER 9 (-110).

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