what's going on everyone Chris from pick dogs.com here with your free pick in the Houston Astros versus Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball matchup going down Saturday August 31st 2024 just a reminder if you haven't already make sure you're subscribe to our Channel and smash that thumbs up and if you're looking for my Best Bets the games that I love including my daily $19 best bet head on over to pick dogs.com and click the premium picks tab at the top of the page but let's get to this one between the Houston Astros and the Kansas City Royals the Houston Astros sending out usus Kikuchi for the start in this one while the Royals will counter with Cole Ragin and and Kikuchi still quite the acquisition for the uh for the Astros since coming over he was one out shy of a quality start last time out it was one of his least effective outings since coming over to the Astros five and two thirs innings of three-run ball had just four strikeouts and three walks but still it was another win for the Houston Astros they were able to back them up offensively the Houston Astros now 5-0 in C five Starts Now I face the Kansas City Royals team that's going to be a little bit tough considering in the last two weeks the Royals really picked up their play against left-handed pitching with the second biggest amount of plate appearances against lefties in the last two weeks they're hitting 316 the team Ops numbers are top three in baseball the isolated power numbers are tied for third so kikuchi's going to have to be careful here on the other side you got the Houston Astros who have historically been a strong team against left-handed pitching haven't necessarily been that in the last two weeks they're hitting just 234 they have a 20 28% strikeout rate and uh Team Ops numbers are below League average but the thing for me here is that Cole Ragin while Ragin has been a solid piece of this um of this Royal's rotation for much of the year there's been a few starts where he's gotten hit as of late and last time out against Cleveland took him 94 pitches to get through four Innings of work really struggled with control he's issued seven walks in his last two starts uh he's given up at least three walks in three of his last five and you know the Astros the still have a a a walk rate against left-handed pitching around 8 and a half% in the last two weeks it's normally a little bit higher and you know when it boils down to it I think Kikuchi and reagens could cancel each other out and if they do Houston's Bullpen has been a lot more trustworthy they have a 2.55 staff erra in the last two weeks while Kansas City Is At 4.44 but we've seen them also blow a lot of leads as of late and uh I think this could just be another spot where you know could be tight for a lot of the game but in the and I think that the uh the Astros can get to the uh get to the the Royals bullpen here and pick up another win I like the Kansas City Royals and it wouldn't surprise me this does feel like it could be a winnable spot with how well they hit lefties but I think the bullpen could let them down once again they've had a lot of winnable spots where the bullpens cost them so give me the Houston Astros in this one and that's going to be my free pick but just a reminder if you haven't already make sure you're subscribe to our Channel and smash that thumbs up if you're looking for my Best Bets you can find those at pic dogs premium why your pick dogs check out our betting tools they're 100% free they're the best betting tools in the business and tools that you want to make sure that you have in your back pocket when you're making your Best Bets for the day's action thanks for watching see you guys soon