Some fond recent memories from Minute Maid Park for the Tigers, who won an AL wild card series vs. the Astros in Houston last October. Detroit hits this series as a hot team, off of a weekend sweep of the Orioles and improving to 18-7 since being swept in a bitter opening three-game set at Chavez Ravine. Monday starter Jack Flaherty has been more than serviceable on the mound in his return to Detroit, posting a 2.63 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, while Astros counterpart Roniel Blanco has had a bit of an uneven start to the season, with a 5.01 ERA in five starts (one particularly bad effort vs. the Twins on April 6). Play Tigers on Money Line

Monday, the Detroit Tigers head to Houston after delivering a home sweep this past weekend over the Baltimore Orioles. Their long term success has featured wins in eight out of ten games. Last week I noted their strong ability on winning game ones in series, which they have now done eight straight times. This is where I step in and go against the trend. As great as Jack Flaherty’s numbers are, Detroit has not scored a run in each of his last two starts. Take the home price reduction here on the Astros.

Ronel Blanco is off his best start of the season, one earned run in 6.2 innings against the Blue Jays. He’s yet to allow more than three runs at home thus far and faces a Detroit lineup hitting .229 on the road with a .655 OPS. This is only the third road start for Jack Flaherty, but he faces an Astros lineup only hitting .232 against righties on the season. The game has gone under the total in four of the last five between these two.