First pitch: Monday, 7:10 p.m. ET
Line: Houston -110, Miami +100, Total: 9.0

The Astros will be looking to stay hot with a win over the Marlins on Monday.

Houston is playing extremely well right now, as the team has now won six of its past seven and 10 of its past 13 as well. The Astros most recently went into Yankee Stadium and beat a good Yankees team in three of four games. The Astros exploded offensively on Sunday, putting up 10 runs against Masahiro Tanaka. They’ll hope to keep it up when they face the Marlins here. Miami earned a 3-1 victory over Atlanta on Sunday, and that win prevented a three-game sweep. The Marlins have now won only three of their past 13 games, and they’ll need to start stringing together some victories soon. The starters in this Monday matchup are set to be RHP Joe Musgrove (2-3, 5.02 ERA, 28 K) for Houston and RHP Daniel Straily (1-3, 4.03 ERA, 37 K) for Miami. Both pitchers have struggled this season, so it wouldn’t be shocking to see this game go Over the total. One trend that favors Miami in this game is the fact that road teams that allow 3.9 or less runs per game on the season (Houston) are 14-38 against the money since 1997 after allowing seven or more runs in two straight games.

The Astros are rolling right now, but they will have a struggling pitcher on the mound on Monday. Musgrove has allowed four or more earned runs in three of his past five starts, but he was pretty good in his most recent outing. The righty faced the Braves in that game on May 10, allowing only two earned runs in six innings of work. He has, however, allowed a homer in five straight games. That is something that will need to change on Monday, and he also needs to do a better job of avoiding walks. Musgrove has put six batters on over the past two games, and that is just not going to cut it here. Offensively, OF George Springer (.261 BA, 9 HR, 22 RBI) is somebody to watch in this one. Springer is on a 13-game hitting streak for Houston, and he also homered twice in Sunday’s victory over the Yankees. He should be able to stay hot against a rather mediocre starter in Straily. SS Carlos Correa (.294 BA, 5 HR, 22 RBI) is also scorching coming into this one. Correa has gotten two hits in six of his past 10 games, and he has driven in at least one run in each of the past six.

The Marlins were able to earn a victory on Sunday, and they badly needed that one. Miami had lost five straight games heading into that contest, and it was very possible that the team could spiral out of control with another defeat at home against a mediocre Atlanta group. The Marlins will now be sending Straily to the mound, and he is hoping he can help his team earn a second straight win on Monday. Straily is coming off of his best start of the season, as the righty allowed just one earned run in seven innings of work against the Cardinals on May 9. If he can turn in another performance close to that one then the Marlins should be feeling great about their chances. They will, however, need guys like OFs Marcell Ozuna (.316 BA, 11 HR, 29 RBI), Christian Yelich (.288 BA, 5 HR, 19 RBI) and Giancarlo Stanton (.259 BA, 11 HR, 26 RBI) to play well in this series. The Astros have a ton of star power, so the Marlins need their guys to rise to the occasion.