Houston Astros vs Seattle Mariners Prediction 7-6-23 MLB Picks

The Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros meet Thursday in MLB action from Minute Maid Park. The Mariners are fresh off a series versus the Giants. After winning the first pair in that set, on Wednesday Seattle lost in a shutout. As for Houston, they played the Rockies in their last pair and won the first game. In the finale the Astros took a two-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.

Seattle Mariners 

The Mariners eked out a 6-5 win over the Giants on Monday, then took a 6-0 shutout win in game two. In the finale Seattle took a 2-0 loss and couldn’t get anything going on seven team hits. Starting pitcher Tommy Milone left after 4.1 innings, one earned, four hits and four walks. 

For the starter job on Thursday the Mariners will send out George Kirby. This year Kirby is 7-7 with a 3.21 ERA and 86 Ks in 101.0 innings over 16 starts. Kirby is 15-12 with a 3.31 ERA in 41 career starts. 

Houston Astros 

Over on the Astros’ side, they played a quick two-game set versus the Rockies this week. After a 4-1 win in game one, on Wednesday Houston scored four in the fourth inning on the way to a 6-4 win. Starter JP France logged 6.0 innings with three earned on six hits and a walk. 

The Astros are going with Ronel Blanco in the start Thursday. Blanco is 2-0 with a 4.73 ERA in 14 games (five starts) this year. This was originally going to be Framber Valdez’s turn in the rotation, but it appears he’s been pushed back to Saturday. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll probably go with the Astros in this one. I do like Kirby to have a good start, though. In his last trio Kirby is just 1-2 but he’s got seven earned in his last 20.1 innings on 16 hits and three walks total. As for Houston, on Wednesday they notched a solid win but really only had one big offensive inning. That said, the pitching was mostly solid—especially after the seventh inning. I like the Astros to keep it up in this opener.