Tarik Skubal is starting for the Tigers in this game and he is 18-4 with a 2.39 ERA this season. He has been pitching very well in his recent starts as he has not allowed more than 2 earned runs in any of his last 5 starts. He has been pitching very well on the road as well, but he has not been as good in those starts. He has allowed 8 earned runs total in his last 4 road starts, averaging 2 earned runs per start in those, and he has not had a start on the road in his last 11 straight where he did not allow a single run. This is going to be a very tight game with some good pitching on both sides so every run is going to matter here. Skubal has more of a disadvantage on the road, and he has not pitched great against the Astros this season either. He has allowed 6 earned runs total in 2 starts against the Astros this season and his last start against them was his only start against them on the road this season, allowing 4 earned runs in that game. Framber Valdez is starting for the Astros in this game and he is 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA this season. He has also been pitching very well in his recent starts. He allowed 3 earned runs in his last start, but prior to that he allowed just 1 earned run or less in 4 straight as well as 6 of his last 7 starts, allowing no more than 3 earned runs in any of those. He has also been much better at home as he has allowed 4 earned runs total in his last 5 starts there. He has only faced the Tigers once this season and he only allowed 2 earned runs on the road in that start, and the Tigers do not have a very potent offense either. The Astros have the better offense which is going to give them an advantage at home as they will be able to score runs against Skubal like they did in their last 2 games against him. The Tigers do have a very good bullpen that is top 5 in the league, but the Astros also have one of the better bullpens in the top 10 so they can defend any lead they get in this game. The Astros will win this game at home and secure game 1 of this series.