Subscribe
Follow Us
The Colorado Rockies shut out the Cleveland Guardians in game one of this three-game interleague series. It's time to continue our MLB odds series with a Rockies-Guardians prediction, pick, and how to watch.
Monday's game saw Austin Gomber pitch wonderfully, as he went five innings, giving up three hits, three walks, and striking out three, picking up the win without surrendering a run. The Rockies also saw rookie Brenton Doyle make his major league debut, as he went 0-3 with a walk and a run scored. Guardians pitcher Cal Quantrill pitched just 3.1 innings, giving up eight hits, two walks, and five earned runs in the time. The Rockies won for just the second time in thirteen games, and hope to make it two in a row tonight.
Here are the Rockies-Guardians MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Rockies-Guardians Odds
Colorado Rockies: +1.5 (-113)
Cleveland Guardians: -1.5 (-105)
Over: 8.5 (-102)
Under: 8.5 (-120)
How To Watch Rockies vs. Guardians
TV: ATTR/BSGL
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 6:10 PM ET/ 3:10 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Rockies Could Cover The Spread
In the last 11 games, the Rockies have scored three or fewer runs in nine of them, resulting in nine losses. Last night, they scored six and got great support from a subpar pitching staff. In areas they have been average or struggled in, they were much better. They hit .270 last night, which is .027 points higher than their season-long average. The Rockies also made contact with the ball. Going into the game, the Rockies has a 25% strike-out percentage. They struck out seven times on the night, but that was good for a 17.5% rate, a marked improvement on their norm.
Article Continues Below
Furthermore, the Rockies drove in runners on base. They hit 3-7 with runners in scoring position. Jurickson Profar was one of the Rockies who was successful when men were in scoring positions, and he made the most of it. On the night, Profar went 2-5 with three RBIs and a home run. This brought his batting average back over .200 on the season and is his third multi-hit game of the year. Ezequiel Tovar also came through last night. He went 1-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
While the Rockies scored, the stars still struggled. Charlie Blackmon, Kris Bryant, and CJ Cron went a combined two for 14, struck out five times, and drew two walks. They were also 0-2 when runners were in scoring position.
On the hill will be Ryan Feltner tonight. Feltner just picked up his first win of the year in his last outing, going 5.2 innings and giving up three hits, but no runs in a victory over the Phillies. On the season, Feltner is 1-2 with a 6.16 ERA. He has walked three or more batters and given up three or more hits in every start this year. He has also yet to pitch a full six innings. Feltner needs to figure out how to keep runners off the basepath if he is going to have another winning performance like his last time out.
Why The Guardians Could Cover The Spread
For the Guardians, offensive inconsistency has been an issue. They once again failed to get on base consistently in the game. They had just four hits last night, lowering the team batting average to .229, and dropping to 11th in the bigs. The Guardians are tied for third in MLB in walks with 93 this year so far but with the poor batting average, they are 19th in on-base percentage. Last night it was another 0-4 night at the plate with runners in scoring position, resulting in four runners being left in scoring position once again. That is about average for Cleveland, as they rank 28th in baseball in leaving runners in scoring position at 3.96 per game.
While the Guardians did get four hits on the night, three of them came from one player. Steven Kwan led off the first inning with a double, as the Guardians could have gotten to Gombar early, but Rosario grounded out. Kwan moved to third on the play and Jose Ramirez came to the dish. He then hit a weak grounder back to the pitcher. Josh Bell walked to make it first and third with two outs, as Andres Gimenez hit into the fielder's choice. Steven Kwan is not the team leader in batting average, but he is just hitting .267
On the hill for the Guardians will be Peyton Battenfield making his third start of the season. In his first start, he went 4.2 innings giving up two runs, one earned. In the second start, he only gave up a solo home run in six innings of work, but without run support, his good start was wasted and the Guardians lost 1-0. If Battenfield repeats his pitching performance against the Tigers, the Guardians should be able to muster one run today and get them a win.
Final Rockies-Guardians Prediction & Pick
The Guardians were awful at the plate in the game yesterday and had a chance to take advantage of a pitcher that was struggling. They did not, as they blew their chance in the first inning and Gombar got going. They will have another chance against Feltner. Feltner gives up plenty of baserunners and should give the Guardians plenty of opportunities to score. Ramirez and company need to capitalize. If they do so, they should bounce back and win with ease, but their lack of consistency is concerning. Still, the Rockies have not been able to string together back-to-back good games, and tonight will be no different.
Final Rockies-Guardians Prediction & Pick: Guardians -1.5 (+102) and Under 8.5 (-120)
