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The Pittsburgh Pirates take on the Colorado Rockies. Check out our MLB odds series for our Pirates Rockies prediction and pick.
Three hours before the scheduled first pitch, the Pirates have not announced a starting pitcher. Austin Gomber gets the start for the Rockies.
Austin Gomber has a 6.11 ERA. He has struggled for nearly the entire season. Once in a while, though, he pitches well, which happened in his most recent start against the Padres on July 12. Gomber held San Diego to one run in six solid innings. This was his best start of the season since an April 23 outing in which he blanked the Tigers in six innings. Maybe Gomber discovered something against the Padres, or maybe he just had a good day at the office and a general outlier, relative to his subpar perforrmances in the vast majority of his starts. Going up against a weak-hitting Pittsburgh batting order, Gomber has a chance to solidify and maintain momentum heading into the All-Star break. If he gets shredded, that one good start against the Padres five days ago will mean a lot less in the larger scheme of things.
If you have been looking for prices on this game, the reason you haven't found one as of noon Eastern time is that Pittsburgh hasn't decided on a starter for Sunday at Coors Field. Colorado is a moneyline favorite at -172, with Pittsburgh a +144 underdog. If prices are posted before the game starts, Colorado will be minus-1.5 on the run line, and the over-under will be either 11.5 runs or 12.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Pirates-Rockies MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Pirates-Rockies Odds
Pittsburgh Pirates: +1.5 (no price)
Colorado Rockies: -1.5 (no price)
Over: 11.5 (no price)
Under: 11.5 (no price)
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Why The Pirates Could Cover the Spread
The Pirates have been shut down twice by Colorado pitching in this series, which has been lopsided in favor of the Rockies. The Pirates did play in Miami on Thursday. The trip to Denver for Friday was a long one, and adjusting to the altitude could not have been easy, especially on Friday in a blowout loss. However, after getting some rest, the Pirates figured to put up a better fight on Saturday. Their pitching did, but their bats remained silent in a 2-0 loss. Getting shut out at Coors Field is the ultimate humiliation. The Pirates do not have a good offense — we can acknowledge that — but we can also say this offense has badly underperformed the past two days. If Friday's failure was understandable, due to the rigors of travel, Saturday's face-plant was lot more embarrassing. The Pirates do play with effort and intensity, but not with great skill or cleverness. They will fight for every piece of leverage they can get. This is a good bounce-back spot against a not-very-good pitcher, Austin Gomber.
Why The Rockies Could Cover the Spread
After winning the first two games of this series and going 5-1 on this current homestand, the Rockies — very comfortable at the moment in Coors Field — should be able to keep the train rolling. The Rockies have dominated Pittsburgh's hitters, and even if the Pirates score a few more runs than they did on Saturday, that won't be enough. The Pirates are going to send an unproven pitcher to the mound. Pittsburgh will need to score at least six runs to win if not more. If the Pirates merely score four runs in this game, the Rockies will win.
Final Pirates-Rockies Prediction & Pick
If you find who is pitching for the Pirates, that might influence your opinion just before first pitch, but it's unlikely that the Pirates will come up with someone who can make a meaningful difference. Take the Rockies, who are playing really well right now.
Final Pirates-Rockies Prediction & Pick: Rockies -1.5
