Can the Los Angeles Dodgers bounce back from a 12-2 beating by the Colorado Rockies and finish their three-game series with at least one win, or will the Rox complete the sweep? That’s the question in the minds of fans who bet on MLB, and the baseball betting odds for tonight’s game at Coors Field at 8:40 PM (ET) may help begin to answer it:
Dodgers -1½ (+120) 10½ (-125) -132
Rockies +1½ (-140) 10½ (+105) +122
Last night, the Wild Card-chasing Rockies improved their winning percentage to .505 – the first time since 2010 that they are above .500 following the All-Star Game – at the expense of the Dodgers. LA starter Brock Stewart (0-2 in two career starts) gave up four home runs out of five Colorado blasts – two from Carlos Gonzalez, and one each from Nolan Arenado, Mark Reynolds, and DJ LeMahieu. Additionally, Gonzalez, Arenado, and Reynolds each had three RBIs. The Dodgers scored early with Justin Turner’s two-run homer off Tyler Anderson in the first, but it was radio silence after that and the Rockie rookie picked up his four MLB career win. The LA outfit still leads the National League Wild Card race, but Gonzalez – who had a minor sprain in his left ankle but hopes to play tonight – is confident that the team’s 14-5 record after the mid-season break – a league best – is only going to improve.
Now, we know Dodgers fans who bet on MLB are worried about the team’s rotation – what with Clayton Kershaw, Brett Anderson, Yimi Garcia, Chris Hatcher, Hyun-jin Ryu, Chin-hui Tsao, and Alex Wood all in the 60-day disabled list. Manager Dave Roberts will counteract the unavailability of South Korean and Taiwanese pitchers by starting Japanese Kenta Maeda (9-7, 3.23 ERA). People who watched and enjoyed Memoirs of a Geisha might not notice the difference, but baseball betting fans might. Maeda had one his best starts of the season at Coors Field, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Moreover, he kept the Rockies to one run in 6 2/3 innings in LA. The Nippon star – he was big in Japan – is 6-2 in 10 away starts and 5-2 in 10 starts versus NL West teams. Also, Arenado is 0-for-6 against Maeda with two strikeouts, while Gonzalez is 1-for-6 with four strikeouts. LeMahieu is the only batter to hit multiple times off the right-handed Japanese.
LA fans who bet on MLB hope that Maeda can lead the team to their first August win, but let’s be honest – just making it through the game without joining Kershaw et al on the DL would be a moral victory. As for the Rockies, they will start righty Tyler Chatwood (10-6, 3.50 ERA). The 26 year old appears to have gotten his groove back following a mid-back strain – just the spot you can never reach. Chatwood has kept opponents to only one total run in his two previous starts, after surrendering 13 runs over 13 innings in the three starts prior to that. On the other hand, he has been a mixed bag versus the Dodgers this year. He allowed three runs in four innings in his first start against the LA team – though he did limit the Dodgers to one run on one hit in eight innings on June 6th. Interestingly, this will be the second time this season that Maeda will start opposite Chatwood. The first was on April 23rd, a 4-1 Dodger win.
