#Astros vs. Diamondbacks prediction: Arizona has the advantage

Though many eyes are on the Houston Astros given the controversies of the past few seasons, the Arizona Diamondbacks are a team that has a young pitcher who is looking to keep a pretty remarkable streak going on Thursday.

Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen has shown the ability to keep his team in every game he starts, never giving up more than three earned runs in his 17 career starts.

Houston entered Thursday scoring 6.1 runs per game, but must face a Diamondbacks bullpen ranked fifth in the league in strikeouts per nine innings and eight in opponent’s batting average on balls in play.

Astros right-hander Brandon Bielak will be making his first career start. While he has a 2-0 record thanks to giving up one run in a combined 5 1/3 innings in two long relief appearances, he is coming off a minor league season in 2019 in which he had a 4.22 ERA and walked 3.7 walked per nine innings.

Though the Astros’ offense for the season has been better, Arizona busted out for 14 runs on Wednesday and should take advantage of a young starter and a tired bullpen in support of their ace.

The play: Diamondbacks, -105