The Rockies are showing a pulse right now after taking three of their last five matchups. At 24-39 on the year and having dropped 13 of their last 20 contests, Colorado isn’t a good baseball team, but flashes of positivity can still be seen. The Rockies are back at Coors Field tonight, where they’ll try to turn those flashes into real consistency.

The Milwaukee Brewers arrive in Denver riding a completely different wave. They boast a 37-23 record and have won 14 of their last 20 games. Milwaukee is playing smart, confident baseball, proving to be a highly difficult out on a nightly basis while the Rockies are still trying to figure out what their baseline is. The gap in execution between these two clubs right now is immediately noticeable.

To stay competitive tonight, Colorado has to play clean baseball and keep Milwaukee from dictating the pace, despite the fact that their roster doesn’t match up with the Brewers’ playoff-ready one. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. MT, and the Rockies will need to pour every ounce of their recent offensive energy into this one if they want to hold their ground.

The Breakdown

Tonight’s pitching matchup puts Ryan Feltner on the mound for the Rockies against Milwaukee’s Brandon Sproat. Feltner is still searching for a dependable rhythm, carrying a 4.85 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP across his 26 innings of work this season – not bad for a Rockies starter, but it’s not exactly good, either. On the opposing side, Sproat brings legitimate swing-and-miss stuff – boasting an impressive 9.59 strikeouts per nine innings across his 46 frames on the year – but he’s proven to be entirely beatable. He enters the contest with an unimpressive 5.28 ERA and a middling 1.41 WHIP, showing a dangerous tendency to allow traffic on the bases while coughing up 1.37 home runs per nine innings. Coors Field is notoriously unforgiving to pitchers who put men on base, making Sproat a prime target for Colorado’s burgeoning offense.

The X-factor tonight is whether the Rockies can counter Sproat’s strikeout ability with their recent plate discipline. Over their last 10 games, Colorado has found an offensive gear, averaging 5.40 runs per contest with a healthy .795 OPS. The problem is that the Brewers are matching that exact output, averaging 5.50 runs with a .762 OPS in that same window. When two offenses are clicking like this, the pressure shifts heavily to the starting rotation to prevent an early track meet.

For the Rockies to pull off a win tonight, Feltner has to command the strike zone and induce soft contact. He needs to eat innings and protect a highly vulnerable Colorado bullpen. On the other side, the lineup has to maintain its current surge, jump on Sproat’s mistakes, and chase him early. If they can build a lead before the late innings, they have a genuine shot to secure a victory at 20th and Blake tonight.

Odds & Lines

  • Moneyline: Brewers -154 / Rockies +125
  • Run Line: Brewers -1.5 (-105) / Rockies +1.5 (-115)
  • Over/Under: 12 (Over -102 / Under -118)

Our Pick

Milwaukee is playing far too well right now to fade, and the glaring disparity between these two clubs late in games makes the Brewers the logical play tonight. Both lineups are fully capable of putting up crooked numbers, meaning the real difference-maker at Coors Field will be the relief pitching. The Rockies’ bullpen has been a massive liability this season, carrying a 4.94 ERA. Trusting them to hold a tight lead in this altitude is a losing proposition.

Conversely, the Brewers roll out a rock-solid relief corps that’s posting a 3.30 ERA, giving them a decisive edge once the starters depart. Combine that late-inning security with Milwaukee’s first-place, 37-23 record, and it’s hard to envision Colorado keeping pace for all nine frames. BetMGM has the Brewers on the run line at -105, and exploiting this massive bullpen mismatch is the smartest angle on the board.

Pick: Brewers -1.5 (-105)

Player Prop Pick

Tonight’s matchup against Brandon Sproat offers a great spot to back Hunter Goodman. Sproat might rack up strikeouts, but he is highly susceptible to the long ball, surrendering 1.37 home runs per nine innings. That specific flaw plays right into Goodman’s hands. Over his last 10 games, the Rockies slugger has been seeing the ball extremely well, posting a .997 OPS to go with four home runs and an average exit velocity of 90.8 mph.

Goodman is averaging exactly one hit per game during this current stretch, but his contact is consistently doing damage. Logging nearly an extra-base hit per game over his last 10 appearances, he is proving he can generate immediate offense with a single swing. Backing him to clear this number tonight is a strategic investment in a Colorado hitter who is currently locked in… against a pitcher who tends to leave the occasional cookie over the heart of the plate.

Pick: Hunter Goodman Over 1.5 Total Bases

Be sure to stick around and check out more Rockies news and analysis all season long, right here at Mile High Sports.

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Sportradar Content Studio contributed to this story.