After sleep walking through the weekend and getting swept by the last-place Phillies, the Cubs are hopeful a dramatic walk-off win Monday will snap them from a recent funk. They conclude their series with the Colorado Rockies, who will be without shortstop Troy Tulowitzki following his trade to Toronto.
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Rockies weren’t going anywhere, mired in last place in the NL West, and apparently got a deal they couldn’t refuse for All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Colorado pulled the trigger on the trade, sending Tulo from the only big league team he’s ever played for to Toronto. That stunner came after Colorado fell victim to the Cubs in walk-off style in Monday’s 9-8 loss, sending the Rockies to yet another loss on the road, their 10th in the last 12 away from Coors Field, leaving them at 18-28 down 4.26 units. After being embarrassed in a three-game sweep by Philadelphia over the weekend, the Cubs were headed to another disastrous loss, blowing a three-run ninth inning lead. But the rookie, Kris Bryant, rescued them with his two-run, walk-off homer for the 9-8 win, Chicago’s third in four meetings with the Rockies this season.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Eddie Butler (3-6, 4.77 ERA) found some stability in his last start, giving up three runs over six innings in a no-decision Friday against the Reds. He was able to avoid further damage by striking out the opposing pitcher twice with runners on base. Butler’s numbers aren’t flattering with a 1.79 WHIP and .314 opponent’s batting average with more walks than strikeouts in 60.1 innings of work. His numbers improve slightly away from Coors Field with a 3.89 ERA in seven road starts.
Butler will be facing the Cubs for the first time.
Jon Lester (5-8, 3.32 ERA) has heated up in the month of July, posting a quality start in four of his past five outings while allowing a combined six earned runs. He pitched well in Friday’s no-decision against the Phillies allowing two runs on seven hits over his seven frames. He left with the lead but the bullpen couldn’t preserve it. He’s been a relief to his bullpen, going at least seven innings in each start this month and might have to do it himself to get a victory.
Lester will face the Rockies for the first time since June 22, 2010 when he tossed six innings of one-run ball at Coors Field in his only start against them.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“I think it wakes us up a little bit. I think we were nonchalant the last couple of games, myself included, but the energy of a walk-off win, a walk-off home run, I think it’ll pay off for us moving forward and spark that energy that we had earlier in the year.” – Chicago’s Kris Bryant after his walk-off home run Monday.
LIVE BETTING or SITUATIONAL BETTING
Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez is officially hot. CarGo had his second straight multi-homer game when he blasted two among his four hits in Monday’s series opener and he has three two-homer games in his last four contests. Gonzalez also has 15 RBIs in his last five games and is batting .459 with 10 home runs in 15 games since July 5. The left-hand hitting Gonzalez is batting .312 and has hit all 20 of his homers against right-handers. He’s struggled this season against left-handed pitching and gets one of the best in Chicago’s Jon Lester. CarGo is hitting just .162 with one extra-base hit in 74 at-bats this season against left-handers and will have a tough matchup against Lester.
PROP TALK
If Monday’s walk-off home run was truly a wake-up call like Kris Bryant said it was, look out Eddie Butler. The Cubs third baseman was slumping as bad as the rest of the team before jacking his 14th homer of the season in the bottom of the ninth Monday, part of a two-hit night for him to match his hit total from the previous five games. That’s a good sign for the rookie and for the Cubs. Another good sign is facing Butler, who allows opponent’s to hit .314 and has given up 75 hits in just 60.1 innings pitched this season.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Even the Cubs have been able to beat up on Colorado’s MLB-worst pitching staff and the Rockies throw a struggling Eddie Butler at them in this one. Scoring runs hasn’t been a problem for the Rockies this season. It hasn’t been a problem for their opponents either. Colorado has one of the top hitting and run producing teams in baseball, but their pitching is dead last in ERA, WHIP and opponent’s batting average. A lot of that can be attributed to the thin air in Denver, and the numbers reflect that, but they’re not that much better on the road. And it will be tough for the Rockies to score enough against Jon Lester to counter what Butler gives up.
Chicago 7, Colorado 3
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