The two bottom feeders of the NL West, the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies, will open a 4-game set tonight at Petco Park. The Rockies have won 6 of the 9 meetings this year and are expected to turn to Jon Gray to throw strikes. Gray is 1-0 over his last 3 turns, with a 3.38 ERA, a 1.44 WHIP, and when he gets the nod against San Diego, good things happen. Colorado is 5-1 in his last 6 starts against the Padres overall and they are 4-0 in Gray’s last 4 turns at Petco Park. The Padres have lost 10 of their last 12 home games and are expected to have Eric Lauer on the hill. Over his last 3 turns, he has been shaky. Lauer is 1-1, with a bloated ERA of 7.62, a 1.62 WHIP, and he has struggled this year against Colorado. Lauer has faced the Rockies twice this year and was lit up in both turns. Back in May, he was scorched for 8 runs on 8 hits and in June, he yielded 5 runs on 10 hits. In both cases, he failed to make it out of the third inning. Good value on the Rocks.
TONIGHT’S PICK: COLORADO ROCKIES