Ruffolo's Thursday Throwdown MLB #1

It's not often that I’ll go against the Astros, but the Astros just didn’t have it against Oakland in their last series, and now have to start Jose Urquidy, who is right there with Jake Odorizzi as the weak link in Houston’s rotation in my opinion. Now Urquidy is familiar with the Mariners and the Mariners know Urquidy because he’s faced Seattle 4 times this season, with a 1.3 record and a 7.58 ERA, and two of those losses came with Logan Gilbert starting for the Mariners as he is slated to on Thursday. I think the only reason Urquidy got the win in his last start was because Marco Gonzales (who has historically had major issues with Houston) was starting on the other side. Logan Gilbert’s been in tough against Houston and was a hard luck loser in his last start vs. the Astros, but matching zeroes with Justin Verlander is not something that’s easy to do and lots of lesser pitchers have failed at that this season. Gilbert’s been far better pitching on the road this season and the Mariners have won 9 of Gilbert’s 11 road starts including 5 road starts in a row. I’ll side with the Mariners to add to Houston’s misery to start the series.