Colorado Rockies (75-69) +150, o/u 11 at Philadelphia Phillies (76-68), 7:05 pm Eastern Wednesday
by Zman of Predictem.com
Two teams fighting to stay alive in the National League playoff picture meet when the Colorado Rockies and Philadelphia Phillies play the third game of a four-game series Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
These two teams have split the first two games of this series; Philadelphia won 6-5 in 10 innings Monday night, and Colorado won 8-2 Tuesday night.
The Rockies now sit in a tie for third place in the NL West, six games back of the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks, while the Phillies are in second place in the NL East, six games behind the division-leading New York Mets.
But in the NL wild-card race, Philly is just 2 games behind the San Diego Padres for the top spot, and Colorado is only 3 out of it.
The Rockies lead the season series with the Phillies this year three games to two, with the o/u going 3-2.
Colorado, while six games over .500 on the season, is only 32-41 on the road. Meanwhile, Philly is 42-31 at home.
Denny Bautista (2-1, 19.06) makes his first start this season for the Rockies Wednesday night against rookie Kyle Kendrick (8-3, 3.78) for Philadelphia.
Bautista got sent down to AAA ball in May after posting an ERA of over 19. But he pitched fairly well down at Colorado Springs, compiling an ERA of less than three, a 1.31 WHIP and a K/BB ratio of 2/1 in 51 relief appearances.
Bautista has started 20 games in his ML career, but never against Philadelphia.
Kendrick is 6-0 in his last nine starts, and has allowed five ER and 20 baserunners over his last 18 IP. The Phillies are 10-6 in Kendrick’s starts this season, the o/u 8-7.
Kendrick has started once in his short ML career vs. the Rockies, giving up three ER and 11 baserunners in six IP of a 7-6 Philly loss five weeks ago.
Colorado owns a .350 team OBP this season, which ranks fourth-best in the majors, and is averaging 5.1 runs per game.
The Phillies rank third in the majors with their .356 team OBP and are averaging a healthy 5.5 RPG.
The Rockies bullpen has been clipped for 10 ER and 30 baserunners in its last 19 innings of work.
The Philly pen has given up seven ER and 28 baserunners in its last 21 1/3 IP.
p>The o/u is 69-68 in Rockies games this year, 79-59 in Phillies games, and 37-33 at Citizens Bank Park, where games are averaging 10.8 RPG this season, third-most of all ballparks in the majors.
The Predictem Pick: We like the Phillies here.