Colorado Rockies at San Francisco Giants 8/14/21 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The Colorado Rockies travel on the road to Oracle Park to take on one of the best teams in baseball in the San Francisco Giants. Colorado has lost their last three games, and lost 7-0 in the series opener, dropping to 51-64 and 23 games back in the stacked NL West. San Francisco has won eight of their last ten games, holds the best record in the MLB at 74-41 and has extended the lead to five games in the NL West.

The Rockies have actually fared relatively well at home this season but have been the worst team in the MLB away from home going 13-43 on the road and scoring a league worst 3.02 runs per game on the road. First baseman CJ Cron has been a surprise force in the lineup, leading the Rockies with 18 home runs and 60 RBIs. Left fielder Raimel Tapia will miss this game, though he’s leading the team hitting .288.

The struggling lefty Kyle Freeland will get the start for the Rockies, he’s 3-6 with a 4.65 ERA on the season. Freeland is coming off a manageable start allowing four runs on seven hits in 5 innings, he struck out six and issued just one walk as the Rockies offense exploded for a 13-8 win over the Marlins. Freeland has a career 4.22 ERA and a career high 2.9K/BB ratio on the year.

 San Francisco has been an above average offense and come in hitting .246 as a team, ranking 11th in team batting average, and scoring nearly five runs per game to rank seventh in the MLB in scoring offense. Shortstop Brandon Crawford leads the team hitting .296 with 19 home runs and 69 RBIs and just reached a two-year 32 million dollar extension to stay with the Giants. The veterans have led the way including catcher Buster Posey hitting .336 with 15 home runs in just 75 games.

San Francisco has not announced a starter yet but has a very solid rotation and bullpen. As a team, they have a 3.32 ERA which ranks third in the MLB and lead the MLB in WHIP with 1.12.