Game: San Diego Padres @ Colorado Rockies
Time: 8:40 p.m. ET
Odds: Padres -175, Rockies +145
Total: 10.5
The Colorado Rockies have been a team that San Diego just can’t seem to figure out. In their current series, the Padres and Rockies have split two games so far. That gives the Rockies six wins in the last seven games between the two teams. Tonight, it will be up to San Diego pitcher Joe Musgrove to figure out the Colorado lineup and pick up a much-needed Padres victory.
With the Dodgers’ recent hot streak, the Padres are fading in the NL West race. At 50-39, San Diego is now 7.5 games behind Los Angeles in the race for the top spot in the division. The one positive is that the Padres still hold a 4.5-game advantage over third place San Francisco, which is slumping just like the Padres.
San Diego has won just five of its last 16 games. The Padres are a very good road team, but they have not been good at Colorado. Over their last 12 trips to Coors Field, San Diego is just 1-11. For the season, the Padres are 27-19 on the road. That is one of the best road records in MLB.
Musgrove has been the Padres’ best pitcher this season. Through 15 starts, he is 8-2 with a 2.09 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. He has faced Colorado once this season. In that start, Musgrove pitched six scoreless innings and struck out eight. The Padres won the game 9-0. Aside from one start against a very good Philadelphia lineup, Musgrove has been excellent all season and the Padres have won 12 of his 15 starts.
Pitching for Colorado will be Chad Kuhl who is 6-5 with a 4.02 ERA. He has won two of his last three starts and the Rockies won all three. One of those was a complete-game shutout of the Dodgers. Kuhl struck out five in a 4-0 win over L.A. He followed that up by giving up nine total earned runs in 10 innings in two starts against Arizona. The Rockies won both games by a score of 6-5.
Kuhl pitched against San Diego once this season, ironically against Musgrove. He gave up five earned runs in 4.1 innings. It’s been a rollercoaster type season for Kuhl. In the start prior to San Diego back in June, Kuhl pitched six innings of scoreless baseball against Atlanta.
The Rockies have won four of their last six games and they play better in the confines of their own stadium, Coors Field. They are 8-3 SU in their last 11 home games. As is typical of a home game in Colorado, tonight’s total is set at 10.5 San Diego hasn’t been scoring a lot of runs lately. In their last 12 games, they have averaged 2.42 runs. Four of their last five games have gone Under as have six of their last seven road games. The Under has hit in six of the Rockies’ last eight games.