The Astros swept four games in Oakland to open the season, scoring at least eight runs in each win. Houston has the pitching edge again Thursday with Cristian Javier facing Cole Irvin, who has a career 6.89 ERA. Oakland finally got in the win column, but they have had no success against Houston. Houston scored at least eight runs in every game and Oakland scored more than two runs just one time. This is not a good matchup for Oakland at all. The pitching matchup clearly favors Houston as well. They are getting solid hitting and have a better bullpen.