Picks, predictions for Rockies vs. Red Sox on Tuesday, June 13

A rain delay pushed things late into the night (and even into Tuesday morning), but the Colorado Rockies eventually came away with a come-from-behind win over the Boston Red Sox in the series opener between these two interleague foes. Boston will look to rebound in game two on Tuesday night, with first pitch from Fenway Park set for 7:10 p.m. ET. Righty Chase Anderson (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will go for Colorado, while the Red Sox turn to reliever-turned-starter Kutter Crawford (1-3, 3.68) in place of the injured Chris Sale.

Boston enters as heavy -225 favorites on the moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the Rockies at +190. The run total is set at 9.5.

Rockies-Red Sox picks: Tuesday, June 13

Injury report

Rockies

Out: DH Charlie Blackmon (hand), 1B CJ Cron (back), OF Kris Bryant (heel), OF Sean Bouchard (biceps), 2B Brendan Rogers (shoulder)

Red Sox

Day to day: SS Yu Chang (wrist), RP John Schreiber (lat)
Out: SS Adalberto Mondesi (knee), RP Richard Bleier (shoulder), RP Joely Rodriguez (shoulder), RP Wyatt Mills (elbow)

Starting pitchers

Chase Anderson vs. Kutter Crawford

Picked up off the scrap heap on a Minor League deal due to injuries in Colorado’s rotation, Anderson has stepped in and done an admirable job. The 35-year-old journeyman has gone at least five innings while allowing three or fewer runs in each of his first five starts with the Rockies, including three runs over 5.1 innings with seven strikeouts against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field last week. He certainly won’t light up any radar guns, but he avoids the middle of the plate and currently ranks in the 89th percentile in hard-hit rate.

Crawford appears to be the choice for now to fill Chris Sale’s spot, and while the righty isn’t fully stretched out just yet — he hasn’t thrown more than 58 pitches since mid-April — he’s been very effective bouncing between the bullpen and the rotation. He’s gone three innings in each of his two starts this month, allowing one run on two hits to the Tampa Bay Rays followed by two runs on six hits against the Cleveland Guardians last week. The righty’s fastball is a true weapon at the top of the zone, with a 1.76 batting average against and a 30.3% whiff rate, while his splitter (33.3% whiff rate) helps him neutralize lefties and is a big reason why he’s among the league leaders in chase rate.

Over/Under pick

Yesterday’s total came in at seven, and I think we see more of the same tonight. Crawford should be allowed to go at least four or five frames now that he’s in the rotation full-time, and he should find plenty of success against a Rockies lineup that struggles away from Coors Field. Anderson’s floor is pretty low, especially in Fenway, but this Red Sox lineup has been mediocre for a while now after a hot start — they’re 23rd in team OPS over the last month — and it’s hard to trust them to put up the crooked number we’ll likely need to hit this over.

Pick: Under 9.5

Moneyline pick

Boston can’t afford to drop wins given the state of the AL East right now, especially not at home against eminently beatable teams. With Crawford showing real promise on the mound, I expect the Sox to come out motivated tonight and notch a win with Masataka Yoshida (hopefully) back in the lineup.

Pick: Red Sox