Astros vs. Rangers Showdown: Kikuchi's Second Start with Astros

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00:00The rubber match today in Arlington where Yusei Kikuchi makes his second start in an Astros

00:05uniform. Houston won his first start over the weekend after being acquired at deadline from

00:12the Toronto Blue Jays. Minus 132, the number in favor of the Stros on the road in Arlington,

00:19total of nine. What's the play today in the in-state showdown? Yes, you're creeping up,

00:24I guess, and rightfully so with Houston at that minus 120 price, you know,

00:28elevated now to the minus 130s. It feels a little bit like yesterday, sort of a disrespectful line.

00:32Now, not as important because Valdez clearly was the better pitcher on the mound. I still do think

00:37Kikuchi is the better pitcher today than Jose Ureña. You take a look at Ureña on the season,

00:41he actually has some pretty decent numbers, but over the past month he's fallen off a bit. His

00:45last 66 batters, a 237 iso against and a weighted on base percentage of 426. You got some good bats

00:52in that lineup that should be able to take care of business, but here's the issue that you might

00:56have. I do like you say Kikuchi, he's been dominant as a left-handed pitcher against left-handed

01:00batters all season long, particularly in the past 30 days, but against righties he's more average

01:05here. So you're going to get a lineup with a lot of right-handed batters going against Kikuchi and

01:09he is on the road. That should be a little bit of a test, but for me again, I'm just going to roll

01:13with the Astros. I just think they're a better overall team than the Texas Rangers. They won

01:16yesterday and I think they win again today.