MLB Betting – SF’s Giant Arm Meets Rising Rocky

Colorado Rockies (+200) at San Francisco Giants (-240, 7 o/u)

The San Francisco Giants (53-32, 25-16 Home) and Colorado Rockies (37-45, 19-25 Away) are headed in opposite directions. The Giants sit atop the NL West, 14.5 games up on their division rival. But the Rockies have some reason for optimism tonight when the squads lock up at AT&T Park (10:15 PM Eastern) as Tyler Chatwood returns to the starting rotation.

Chatwood has been one of the lone bright spots among the Colorado starters this year. The 26-year-old righty is 8-4 with a 3.15 ERA in 14 starts. He was forced from his last start (June 18) after just 1.2 innings with a back strain. Not only will Chatwood be looking to keep his solid season on the go, he’ll also be trying to staunch his team’s current six-game losing streak.

The bats fell silent for the high-scoring club in the first game of the series as the Rockies fell 3-1 last night.

Finding more offense this evening will be difficult, as well, since the Giants are sending ace Madison Bumgarner to the hill. “Mad-Bum” is 9-4 on the year with a 2.20 ERA. He wasn’t perfect in his last start, going 6.1 innings and giving up seven hits and four runs, but the San Fran offense picked up their ace, battering the Athletics for a 12-6 win.

While there could be value on the Rockies – who are fourth in the MLB in runs scored – with the unassuming Chatwood on the mound, the trends look to favor the Giants: Colorado is 1-4 ATS and 0-5 SU in its last five road games, while San Francisco is 14-5 SU in its last 19 at home. Even though the Rocky bats have the potential to pile up runs on any given night, betting against Bumgarner at home is too risky.

Pick: Giants (-240).

(Photo Credit: X Wad (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons)