Cleveland Indians vs. Houston Astros MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 7/19/2021

Cleveland Indians (47-43) vs. Houston Astros (56-38)
July 19, 2021 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Houston Astros -220 / Cleveland Indians +200; Over/Under: +9
(Get latest betting odds)

The Cleveland Indians and the Houston Astros meet in MLB action from Minute Maid Park on Monday night.

The Cleveland Indians will attempt to build on their 4-2 win over the Oakland A’s last time out. Bradley Zimmer led the charge, going 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs while Daniel Johnson added a solo home run, going 2 for 4 at the dish to finish off the scoring for the Tribe in the win. Amed Rosario added a pair of hits while Bobby Bradley and Roberto Perez each had a base hit to finish off the offense for the Tribe in the win. Zach Plesac got the win to improve to 5-3 on the year after allowing two earned runs on four hits while striking out three over six innings of work. Bryan Shaw closed the 9 for his 2 save of the season. J.C. Mejia will start here and is 1-3 with a 7.42 ERA and 27 strikeouts this season. This will be Mejia’s second career start against Houston.

The Houston Astros will look to bounce back from a 4-0 loss at the hands of the White Sox last time out. Abraham Toro had the lone base hit for the Astros in the loss, with the rest of the Astros batting 0 for 25 with 13 strikeouts and Toro’s hit was the lone baserunner that the Astros had as Houston failed to draw a walk as well. Framber Valdez took the loss, falling to 5-2 on the year after allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out four over 6.1 innings of work. Zack Greinke will start here and is 8-3 with a 3.59 ERA and 85 strikeouts this season. in his career, Greinke is 10-9 with a 3.74 ERA and 139 strikeouts against Cleveland.

Cleveland is 1-6 in their last 7 road games and 1-9 in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 series-opening games. Houston is 77-32 in their last 109 series-opening games while the under is 6-2 in their last 8 games overall.

I get the case that could be made for the Indians here, but realistically, I don’t like what I’ve seen from Mejia up to this point in the season. The Astros have felt hit or miss lately, but Greinke’s the far better pitcher here and I expect Houston to get the ball rolling at home. Give me Houston -1.5 here.