Houston Astros vs Seattle Mariners Prediction 8-20-23 MLB Picks

The Seattle Mariners and the Houston Astros meet Sunday in MLB action from Minute Maid Park. This will be the finale in a three-game weekend set. The Mariners took a shutout win in the opener, then on Saturday Seattle kept it going with a dominant victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.

Seattle Mariners 

The Mariners out-hit the Astros 9-4 in the Friday opener of this set, eventually pulling out a 2-0 win. Julio Rodriguez managed four hits and a solo homer, and Teoscar Hernandez had three hits. On Saturday in game two Seattle jumped out to a 4-0 lead on the way to a big win 10-3. Dylan Moore put up three RBI and two homers, while Hernandez had three hits and two RBI. 

In the starter role for the Sunday finale the Mariners are going with Emerson Hancock. Across two starts this season Hancock has a 5.40 ERA without a decision and four strikeouts in 10.0 innings. 

Seattle Mariners Team Facts

• The Mariners have won each of their last six games as road underdogs.
• The Mariners have covered the run line in each of their last nine games as road underdogs.
• The Mariners have led after 3 innings in four of their last six games as underdogs against American League opponents.

Seattle Mariners Player Prop Facts

• Julio Rodriguez ranks T5th in the league in Steals (33) this season.

Houston Astros 

Over on the Astros’ side, they couldn’t get anything going in the Friday game and also came up with three errors. Yainer Diaz had two of the team’s four hits, with Jose Altuve and Jordan Alvarez each notching one. On Saturday Houston gave up 17 hits and had 11 themselves. Diaz, Alex Bregman and Mauricio Dubon each had a solo homer in the loss. 

Hunter Brown will be the starter for the Astros on Sunday. Over his 23 games (22 starts) Brown is 9-8 with a 4.16 ERA and 138 Ks in 125.1 innings. Brown has gone 3-3 with a 5.24 ERA in his last seven outings (six starts). 

Houston Astros Team Facts

• The Astros have won each of their last 11 day games against American League opponents following a home loss.
• The Astros have covered the run line in each of their last six day games against American League opponents following a home loss.
• The Astros have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last three games as favorites against American League opponents.
• The 'Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the last four day games between the Mariners and Astros.
• The Astros have trailed after 7 innings in six of their last eight games as favorites against American League opponents.

Matchup/League Facts

• The Houston Astros ranks 4th in the league for strikeouts against this season (974).
• The Houston Astros ranks T26th in the league for triples this season (10).
• The Seattle Mariners ranks 29th in the league for strikeouts against this season (1221).
• The Seattle Mariners ranks 2nd in the league for ERA this season (3.70).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll stick with the Astros here. So long as Brown has a good outing, that is. Over his last three appearances Brown is 2-1 with seven earned over 14.0 innings. Brown’s last outing was 2.0 clean innings of relief in Miami back on August 15. As for Hancock, he’s coming off a rough appearance (5.0 innings; five earned) but should be able to bounce back. On Saturday in game two Houston had a rough evening on the mound. Framber Valdez gave up six earned in 5.0 innings, and the pen had four earned in 4.0 frames. The Astros need a good bounce-back effort in the finale and I think they’ll get it.