Houston Astros - Cleveland Indians

The Indians and Astros will play Game 3 of their 4-game series at Progressive Field, where Cleveland's Carlos Carrasco and Houston's Doug Fister will square off Wednesday.  The Tribe holds a 4 1/2-game American League Central lead over Detroit Tigers, who have started to close the gap. Meanwhile, the Astros have won 3-three straight after taking the first two games of this four-game series and are trying to stay alive in the Wild Card race, remaining just 2 games behind the Orioles.  Fister (12-10, 3.91 ERA) will make his 28th start of the season. In a loss to the Rangers his last time out, he allowed a season-high eight runs (seven earned) and 10 hits in a season-low 3 2/3 innings. Fister is 9-4 in away games played this season with 3.68 ERA.  Cleveland will counter with Carrasco (10-7, 3.06 ERA), who is set to make his 23rd start. In his previous outing, Carrasco notched his 10th win of the season, tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings against Miami with 11 strikeouts. He has strung together six consecutive starts of at least eight punchouts, thus he is the clear favorite to win tonight. Carrasco has a 2-1 career record vs. Houston, with just 2.05 ERA. With that, I am picking Cleveland Indians with a spread of (+1.5) Runs. 

UPDATE September 08, 2016 - FINAL Result:  Houston Astros  5-6  Cleveland Indians.  Cleveland Indians defeated Houston Astros 6-5 on Wednesday night at Progressive Field for win No. 80, extending their lead over the second-place Tigers in the American League Central to 5 1/2 games a few hours after Detroit lost to the White Sox.  Tribes' pitcher Carrasco worked around some early trouble, logging 7 1/3 innings of four-run ball.  He struck out 5-five batters and earned his 11th win of the season. Houston's starter Doug Fister took the loss after being chased in the fifth inning. Fister allowed six runs on nine hits across 4 1/3 innings, walking three batters and whiffing two, which resulted in the Astros ending their three-game winning streak.