The set-up: The Houston Astros won 4-1 last night behind Justin Verlander, sweeping a two-game IL series over the Giants (Astros won 11-2 on Tuesday, behind Gerrit Cole). The Astros will now open a seven-game road trip Thursday with the first of four games with the Cleveland Indians. The Indians just completed a 4-4 road trip, which included a 1-2 mark at Houston last weekend, with a two-game interleague sweep in Chicago during which they beat the Cubs 10-1 and 1-0. Both teams reside in first place in their respective division (AL Central and West), with both owning two game advantages over their closest challengers. However, while Houston is an impressive 32-18 (only the Red Sox and Yankees own higher winning percentages), the Indians 24-23 mark has them atop the Central only because no other team in that division owns a winning record!

The pitching matchup: Charlie Morton (6-0, 1.94 ERA) takes the mound for Houston, while Mike Clevinger (3-1, 2.87 ERA gets the nod for Cleveland. As noted above, the Astros won two of three games last weekend in Houston, so not surprisingly in this quick rematch, two of the four pitching matchups for this series are identical to two from last weekend. That includes tonight 's matchup. Morton looks to top Cleveland for the second time in seven days, after allowing one run and four hits over seven innings of a 4-1 home victory over the Indians on Friday. Morton has registered 70 strikeouts while issuing only 18 walks in 55 2/3 innings this season and has allowed more than two runs only twice in his nine starts (Astros are 6-3). Morton's win last time out improved him to 1-2 with a 3.93 ERA in three career starts against Cleveland. Clevinger suffered his first loss of the season opposite Morton on Friday, surrendering three runs on eight hits and four walks in 6 1/3 innings. Clevinger has made three career starts against the Astros, going 1-2 with a 2.40 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 15 innings.

The pick: The defending World Series champions have picked right up this year from how they finished last year during their impressive march to the winner's circle, when they won 101 games in the regular season. The same cannot be said about the Indians. Cleveland won 102 games last year, including an American League-record 22-game winning streak. However, he Indians were surprisingly eliminated in their Division Series against the Yankees, when they won the first two games, but lost the last three. The hangover from that shockingly quick exit from the 2017 postseason appears to be lingering this year (see above). A huge problem for teh Indians in 2018 has been that after having the best bullpen in the league the last two years, the Indians are last in the American League in bullpen ERA this year. The Indians' 5.65 bullpen ERA is almost three runs higher than their league-leading 2.89 ERA last season. Edge to the Astros and I'll make Houston a 10* play.