- Houston’s 6-2 win over Kansas City and Texas’ 4-3 loss to Boston on Thursday broke a one-day first-place tie.
- Houston sits 77-76 and Texas 76-77, a one-game AL West gap with nine games to play.
- Five Houston homers, a season high, included the 40th of the year for Yordan Alvarez.
- AL West futures odds price Houston at -380 and Texas at +310.
HOUSTON – The Houston Astros are alone atop the American League West again after Thursday’s 6-2 handling of the Kansas City Royals, a night the Texas Rangers spent blowing a three-run lead in a 4-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox that ended a first-place tie one day after it began. The Astros sit at -380 online sports betting odds, followed by the Rangers at +310 odds.
Houston Answers, Texas Doesn’t
Jeremy Peña led off the Houston first with a homer, Daulton Varsho went deep in the second, and the fifth inning produced two more three pitches apart, a Lamonte Wade Jr. solo shot followed by the 40th of the year for Alvarez off Seth Lugo, the Kansas City starter. Taylor Trammell’s eighth-inning solo shot made it a five-homer game, the most Houston has managed in one night this season. Lugo wore four of the five and dropped to 7-9.
Texas built an early lead of its own at Globe Life Field, where Josh Jung took Red Sox starter Sonny Gray deep for an opposite-field solo home run in the first inning before a sacrifice bunt, an RBI single from Danny Jansen and a safety squeeze from Evan Carter made it 3-0 in the second.
Boston clawed back with a run in the seventh, then Trevor Story turned the game with a three-run homer off closer Jacob Latz in the eighth. Garrett Whitlock finished it in the ninth for a 4-3 Red Sox win.
Wednesday’s Kansas City win had left the Astros and Rangers tied atop the AL West at 76-76, and the tie lasted exactly one day.
The Board Hasn’t Caught Up
Thursday’s results shifted AL West division odds, heavily favoring Houston at -380 and moving the Rangers back to +310 odds.
| Team | Odds | Implies |
|---|---|---|
| Houston Astros | -380 | 79.2% |
| Texas Rangers | +310 | 24.4% |
| Seattle Mariners | +15000 | 0.66% |
Two standings swings in two days have moved constantly moved divisional odds on the legal MLB betting sites board for each of the contending teams and moved the Seattle Mariners out of the race.
