#919/920 ASA TOP PLAY ON Under 8.5 Runs – Houston vs Texas, Thursday at 2:00 PM ET - Houston sends their ace Justin Verlander to the mound in the series finale. He has allowed just 4 ER’s in 3 starts this season with a miniscule WHIP of 0.74. Lefty Perez is on the hill for Texas and the Astros have really struggled vs southpaws this year with a team batting average of just .189. Houston has averaged just 3.1 RPG this season per 9 innings vs lefties and Perez has some big momentum coming off his best outing of the year holding Oakland scoreless with just 2 hits in 6 innings. Perez has a solid ERA of 3.86 on the season but he’s pitched better than that with an xERA (expected ERA) of 2.86. The Houston offense has struggled all season ranking 20th or lower in RPG, batting average, and OPS. While Texas has averaged 4.7 RPG on the season (7th in MLB) they’ve been a bit lucky as their batting average (19th in MLB) and OPS (21st) don’t align with that number. Much of their success was early with the Rangers averaging 6 RPG through their first 7 games and they’ve dropped to just 3.4 RPG over their last 10. When we get to the relievers Houston has the 8th best bullpen ERA in the Majors and their pen has allowed only 4 HR’s on the season. The Texas bullpen numbers are not good but they were terrible early in the season and they’ve rebounded to pitch very well as of late. Over the last 10 games the Texas bullpen ERA is 3.07 and they’ve allowed opponents to hit just .186. We’re on the UNDER in this one.