The defending World Series champion Braves, trying to play out of a slow start to this season, continue a four-game series with the Rockies in Denver Saturday night. Rookie righty Spencer Strider makes his second start for Atlanta against lefty Kyle Freeland and his 4.96 ERA for Colorado.
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MLB Betting Odds
Saturday’s baseball betting lines opened Atlanta and Strider at around -155 over Colorado and Freeland, with an over/under of 11.5 runs. Early betting action then bumped the Braves 15 cents to -170.
Braves-Rockies MLB Betting Preview
Atlanta took the opener of this series Thursday night 13-6, then won Friday’s game 3-1 in 10 innings. The Braves won as -145 favorites on the dime line Thursday, then at -180 Friday. Atlanta also covered against the run line in both games. With Friday’s win, the Braves are 6-4 over their last ten games. At 26-27 overall, Atlanta still trails the first-place Mets by 8.5 games in the NL East, but it’s also only three games behind San Francisco in the battle for the third and final National League wild-card spot. Meanwhile, with Friday’s loss, Colorado is 3-7 over its last ten games. At 23-29 overall, the Rockies are probably already out of the NL West race, and they’re 5.5 games behind the Giants in that wild-card race. This series is the first meeting between these two teams this season. Last year Colorado took the season series from the Braves four games to two.
Saturday’s Pitching Match-Up
Freeland, by our strict standards, is just 2/10 on quality starts this season and 0 for his last four. Last Sunday, he gave up five runs on seven hits and four walks through 5 2/3 innings of a 6-5 Atlanta loss to Washington. And over his last four starts, he’s allowed 17 runs and 28 hits through 20 2/3 innings, with ten walks against 16 strikeouts. Colorado is 5-5 with Freeland this season, and that sounds about right. This will be Freeland’s first start against Atlanta since 2019, and that’s already kind of a long time ago. Strider will be making his second career ML start Saturday to go along with 13 appearances in relief. Monday, in his first career start, he gave up five runs – three earned – on four hits and two walks through 4 1/3 innings of a 6-2 Braves loss to Arizona. But over his previous seven appearances, he allowed just two runs and nine hits through 15 1/3 innings, with three walks against 26 strikeouts. This will be Strider’s first career action against the Rockies.
Splits With the Sticks
Atlanta is batting .259 against left-handed pitching this season, with a .338 team OBP and a .459 team slugging percentage. Numbers like those lead us to rank this line-up among the top half-dozen in Baseball in this split. The Braves have also scored at least six runs six times over their last ten games. Colorado is slashing .252/.318/.390 against right-handed pitching.
The Bullpens
The Atlanta bullpen owns a 3.21 ERA this season, along with a 1.20 WHIP. The Rockies pen owns an ML-worst 5.27 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. Numbers like that, although influenced by Coors Field, nonetheless lead us to rank this unit as the worst bullpen in Baseball.
- Get more details: 6/4/22 Betting Stats
MLB Betting Trends
The Braves are 12-13 on the road this season and 12-6 against left-handed starters. The Rockies are 16-14 at home and 16-19 against right-handed starters.
Totals Report
- The overs are 29-21 in Braves games this season.
- The Over is 29-23 in Rockies games.
- The Over is 17-13 at Coors Field this season.
- The Under is a combined 7-4 with Freeland and Strider this season.
