The Colorado Rockies face off against the San Diego Padres tonight in Colorado for the second game of this division series. The Colorado Rockies bats went off last night against Mackenzie Gore for the second straight time to give them the win in Game 1. However, they are very good against lefties. Kyle Freeland also pitched very well for the Rockies and the Padres have actually been worse against lefties lately. They were better against them when they had Will Myers in the lineup but now that Nomar Mazara is the DH and the top of the lineup has both Jake Cronenworth and Eric Hosmer, this team has actually started to perform better against righties.
The Padres face a righty today in German Marquez and he has just been absolutely brutal this season. He has pitched well in his last two games including his last start against the Padres. However, the second time around at Coors Field should give the advantage to the batters. Bud Black also tends to leave Marquez in games too long and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen today with how thin the Rockies bullpen is at the back end. Nick Martinez has been pitching very well this season and he pitched very well against the Rockies in his last start allowing only one earned run in five innings pitched. He should be able to give the Padres enough length to get to their best relievers.
The Padres have won seven of their last ten games and they are now 41-25 on the season. They are 24-12 on the road this season. I though this team would start to regress because they just don’t have a ton of depth, however Nomar Mazara’s performance in this lineup has given them a spark. Jake Cronenworth is starting to hit better as well, and Jurickson Profar hitting at any point is a big boost. The Rockies are just 17-19 at home this season and they are 11-23 against teams over .500. The Rockies actually won the season series last year 11-8 and they’ve won three of the first five games between these teams this season. However, I like this pitching matchup for the Padres, and I think they were a bit gassed yesterday after dominating in Chicago and playing in the thin air. I like the Padres on the road.
