Game: Colorado Rockies at Philadelphia Phillies
Time: 7:05 PM ET
Starting Pitchers: Antonio Senzatela vs. Ranger Suarez
Odds: Rockies +175, Phillies -185
The next few weeks will make or break the Philadelphia Phillies 2021 season. Currently, the Phillies are 2.5 games behind NL East leader Atlanta. Philadelphia will begin a stretch where they play seven straight home games all against teams with losing records. This is the perfect opportunity for the Phils to make up some ground on the Braves.
First up at Citizens Bank Park is Colorado. The Rockies are one of the worst road teams in baseball. In fact, if not for Arizona (17-52), Colorado (18-50) would have the worst road record in MLB. That suits Philadelphia just fine as the Phillies are 39-28 at home this season. Plus, they are coming off a series with Milwaukee where they salvaged a win. It was a big win too as the Phillies hit six home runs and won 12-0.
Philadelphia has the ability to explode like that. Bryce Harper has picked up some of the slack left by the injury to Rhys Hoskins, who had 27 homers and 71 RBIs before being lost for the season. Harper is batting .303 with 29 home runs and 68 RBIs. He and guys like Jean Segura (.294) and J.T. Realmuto (.259) will present some problems for Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela.
Senzatela has won his last two starts giving him a record of 4-9 for the season. One of those wins was a very unlikely victory on the road over the Dodgers. That is Senzatela’s first road victory of the season. He is 1-6 away from home with a road ERA of 4.36, which is just a bit higher than his season ERA of 4.16. Senzatela went seven innings in each of his last two starts and allowed a total of just three earned runs.
The Rockies right-hander will be opposed by Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez, who has done well since entering the Phillies starting rotation. Suarez is 5-4 overall and has a very respectable 1.50 ERA. Only once has Suarez given up more than a single earned run in any game this season. One of the big reasons why is that he has yet to give up a home run. Pitchers that keep the ball in the park have a better chance of winning games. Suarez gives the Phillies a chance to win every time he pitches.
The Phillies can help Suarez by continuing their current streak of producing runs. They are averaging almost six runs per game over their last ten. In seven of their last nine games, the total has gone Over. The Phillies scored 12 runs in two of those games and hit at least seven runs in three more. If you take out a shutout loss to Milwaukee, Philadelphia is averaging eight runs a game in their last nine.
Neither team has that great of a bullpen and tonight’s total is set at 8. While the Phillies have trended to the Over recently, nine of the Rockies last 13 games have seen the Under cash.