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The Los Angeles Angels return home with the hopes of making a late-season push for the playoffs. Los Angeles took three of four games at Minnesota in their previous series and they look to carry the momentum as they take on the Colorado Rockies beginning Monday night.
Colorado has one of the worst records in baseball at 43-56 but they will be turning to their best pitcher in German Marquez to help set the tone for this three-game set. The Rockies lost their last two games to the Dodgers after winning the opening game of that three-game series.
Colorado Rockies
The Colorado Rockies entered Sunday’s games fourth in the NL West and 18 games behind the San Francisco Giants for the top spot in the division. They also stood 13.5 games behind the San Diego Padres for the second wild card spot in the NL. After losing 1-0 to the Dodgers on Saturday, the Rockies fell 3-2 to the defending champions on Sunday.
German Marquez will open on top of the mound for the Rockies. Marquez enters Monday’s Game1 with a record of 8-7 with an ERA of 3.50 and a WHIP of 1.158 with 44 walks and 119 strikeouts in 20 starts. In his previous start last Tuesday, Marquez took the loss against the Seattle Mariners. He threw six innings, allowed four runs on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He is 2-5 with an ERA of 3.89 and a WHIP of 1.176 in seven starts on the road this season.
Colorado’s offense has struggled this season with only 4.30 runs per game scored. Ryan McMahon leads the team with 16 home runs and has a .469 slugging percentage. Trevor Stor and CJ Cron have combined for 26 homers this year but the rest of the batting order has struggled badly.
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels entered Sunday’s schedule fourth in the AL West and 11 games off the division pace currently being set by the Houston Astros. The Angels are 6.5 games behind the Oakland A’s for the second wild card spot in their conference. In their most recent series, Los Angeles took three of four meetings against the Twins, including a 6-2 win on Sunday where Shohei Ohtani hit his MLB-best 35th homer of the season.
Speaking of Ohtani, the Angels’ two-way superstar will be starting for them in this matchup. Ohtani is 4-1 with an ERA of 3.21 and a WHIP of 164 with 36 walks and 95 strikeouts in ver 73 innings of action across 14 starts. Ohtani didn’t factor in last Monday’s start against the A’s where he threw six innings while allowing no runs and only three hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. Ohtani is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.87 and a WHIP of 1.177 in eight home starts this season.
Aside from being the Angels’ best pitcher, Ohtani is also Los Angeles’ top offensive weapon. His 35 home runs are the most in the majors and he has a .358 on-base percentage and a .675 slugging percentage. Jared Walsh and Jeff Upton have combined for 36 home runs while David Fletcher and Jose Iglesias have combined for 272 bases to add depth to their batting order.
Who Wins?
Colorado is 1-5 in their last six road games against an opponent with a losing record. The Rockies are 10-21 in their last 31 interleague road games against an opponent with a losing record, 12-42 in their last 54 games as road underdogs, 3-7 in their last 10 interleague games against a right-handed starter, and 12-40 in their last 52 road games overall.
Los Angeles is 7-1 in their last eight home games against an opponent with a losing road record, 4-0 in their last four interleague games against a team with a losing record, 4-1 in their last five interleague games as betting favorites, 16-5 in their last 21 games against an opponent with a winning record, and 17-8 in their last 25 home games.
Head to head, the Angels are 17-9 in their last 26 games against the Rockies. Los Angeles is also 5-1 in their last six meetings against Colorado at Angel Stadium.
The Rockies have their best pitcher on the mound for this game but having them play outside Colorado this season has been a disappointment. They fell to 10-36 away from home after Sunday’s 3-2 loss to a short-handed Dodgers team.
Making matters worse for Colorado is the fact that they will be facing the two-way phenomenon Shohei Ohtani in this game. The Angels should get enough runs behind Ohtani, David Fletcher, and Justin Upton. Meanwhile, Ohtani should give the Angels six to seven strong innings before turning the game over to the bullpen.
The Angels are trying to battle their way to the AL wild card race and taking advantage of winnable games like this one is their best way to get there so I don’t expect any letdown from Los Angeles.
Colorado’s struggles at the plate will be the main issue here. Give me the Angels to pick up the home win.
Prediction: Los Angeles Angels
Over/Under Betting
The total has gone under in six out of the last seven games played by the Rockies. The under is 5-1 in their last six games played on the road, 4-0 in their last four interleague road games against a right-handed starter, 5-1 in their last six road games against an opponent with a losing record, 6-2 in their last eight games as underdogs, and 4-1 in their last five games as road underdogs.
The under is 6-0 in the Angels’ last six games played overall. The total has gone under each of their last five games played on grass. The under is also 6-2 in their last eight Game 1 of a series, 4-0 in their last four games when the total is set between 8 to 9.5, 36-17-3 in their last 56 games when the total is set at 8.5 or lower.
Head to head, the total has gone under in six out of the last eight games played between these two teams. The under is also 5-2 in their last seven meetings in Los Angeles.
Over
8 (-103)
Under
8 (-117)
Odds from BetOnline as of 07/26/2021
The Angels’ batting order has been one of the best in the majors this season and they can easily put up plenty of runs in this game. Colorado meanwhile has issues when it comes to slowing down the opposition from scoring run as they entered Sunday ranked 22nd at 4.88 runs per game allowed.
However, both teams have their best pitcher starting in this game, and Colorado scores only an average of 2.89 runs per game on the road while Ohtani has pitched better at home. While Marquez is just 2-5 in his last seven road starts, he should be able to slow down the Angels’ offense.
Both pitchers should be able to deliver what is expected of them. The Angels’ offense should have enough to pull off the win. But being paired with a paltry offensive team on the road won’t help the score get over the total.
Prediction: Under 8
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