The Baltimore Orioles will travel to Denver to take on the Colorado Rockies in a three-game interleague series that begins on Friday night. Both teams enter this series with records below the .500 mark, but there is a clear gap in talent between the two teams. The Colorado Rockies’ batters must be licking their chops with the struggling Orioles pitching staff coming to town. Expect plenty of runs to be scored throughout the series, but especially on Friday night.
Baltimore enters this contest having lost six straight games, and not much has gone right for them in 2019. The Orioles have gone just 9-16 away from home this season and bring a 15-35 record into the series opener. Baltimore has a ton of holes on their roster, and they likely will finish with the worst record in baseball. Colorado has gone just 2-5 in its last seven games and will be looking to turn things around. The Rockies are just 22-26 on the season and have gone just 9-11 in games played at Coors Field. Colorado is -164 over the Baltimore Orioles in the series opener.
Orioles Pitching Serving Up Bombs
The Baltimore Orioles have a major issue with their pitching staff, and they have been giving up home runs at a record-setting pace. The Orioles have already surrendered 107 long balls this season, and that doesn’t bode well as they head to Coors Field. Young left-hander John Means will be on the mound in the series opener, and he might be the ace of the staff. Means has gone 5-4 so far this season and has a very respectable ERA of just 2.68. The youngster has allowed just six home runs in 43 innings, and that will be a huge key in this start.
Baltimore does have some intriguing pieces in its everyday lineup, but they haven’t gotten enough consistent production. Leftfielder Trey Mancini has done his part and leads the team with a .301 batting average to go along with 10 home runs. First baseman Chris Davis has actually started to turn his season around but is still just hitting .172 on the season. The Orioles are going to have to score some runs in this series if they are going to beat the high-scoring Rockies.
Rockies Have Offensive Firepower
It should be no surprise that the Colorado Rockies have one of the best offensive lineups in the National League. Third baseman Nolan Arenado is a perennial MVP candidate, and he is off to another great start this season. Arenado leads the team with 11 home runs and 35 runs batted in to go along with a .316 batting average. Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story have both chipped in with great offensive seasons as well, and the Rockies will look to destroy Orioles pitching all series long.
Jeff Hoffman will be making just the second start of his career on Friday night, and he is looking for a great bounce-back performance. Hoffman went just five innings in his first start and allowed four earned runs in that game. The Rockies have a team earned-run average of 5.01 so far this season, and their pitching needs to give their offense a chance in this game.
Rockies Win Series Opener
Both of these teams have really struggled to get outs from their pitching staff, and that should make for a very high scoring series. Baltimore actually has the edge in terms of pitching in the series opener, but that won’t matter in the result. The Rockies just have too much firepower in their lineup, and they will win the series opener. Bet the Colorado Rockies -164 over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night.