Two National League playoff hopefuls will meet on Thursday for the first of four games at Miller Park. Milwaukee is still enjoying a 4.5 game lead in the NL Central. Colorado is struggling this year, sitting 11 games out of first in the West, but still has aspirations for a playoff berth. They have the offense to make a run at a playoff spot this year, but have not received strong pitching yet. We are going to back the host Brewers.
Milwaukee has been able to keep St. Louis at-bay in the Central standings, but they have begun to see their lead slip a little bit of late. The Brewers will send Wily Peralta to the mound in search of a second straight win. He has a record of 8-5 and an ERA of 3.02 this season. Peralta faced the Rockies last week, helping his Brewers to a three-game sweep of Colorado. He should be in line for much of the same on Thursday night.
Colorado’s pitching staff has been the team’s weak link this season. Christian Friedrich will try to redeem himself in a second straight start against the Brewers. In a bizarre situation, Friedrich allowed a wild pitch with the bases loaded against Milwaukee last weekend and all three runners wound up scoring on the play. He gave up nine runs, with just four of them earned. Friedrich will need to pitch much better to win his first game of the season.
We will place our bets on the Rockies and Brewers at SportsBetting.ag on Thursday night, where the Brewers are home chalk with Peralta on the mound. We are going to place 10 percent of our bankroll on Milwaukee and the -1.5 (+100) spread as they take game one of this set.
