The Rockies and Diamondbacks battle in Colorado on Saturday night in an NL West clash.
Merrill Kelly is scheduled to pitch for Arizona, while Carson Palmquist will take the mound for Colorado.
Rockies vs. Diamondbacks prediction, preview
Merrill Kelly is having a solid 2025 season so far for Arizona. Kelly has always been a sporadic pitcher, but he had a particularly difficult season in 2024. He has bounced back well this season, with a 3.41 ERA heading into this game. Kelly had one horrific start in his second game of the year, giving up nine runs to the Yankees. In the 13 starts since then, Kelly has a 2.65 ERA and is averaging over six strikeouts per start. He should put in a good performance against the Rockies. Kelly had his best start of the year earlier this season against Colorado, throwing seven innings of one-hit shutout baseball. The Rockies’ lineup is the worst in baseball this season and won’t be able to take advantage of some of Kelly’s faults. He should dominate them once again, making life easy on his team.
Carson Palmquist is in his rookie season in Colorado. It has been a tough start to MLB life for Palmquist. He has a 7.76 ERA through six starts and has yet to give up fewer than two runs or go longer than five innings in a game this season. His first career start came against the Diamondbacks, and he gave up five runs in four innings in that start. Colorado also has a 4.71 bullpen ERA, the fifth-worst mark in the MLB. So once Palmquist exits the game, things don’t get much better for the Rockies.
Rockies vs. Diamondbacks pick, best bet
The Rockies have the worst record in baseball and have a struggling pitcher on the mound this season. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks have some red-hot bats at the moment. Eugenio Suarez, Ketel Marte, Josh Naylor and Corbin Carroll are some of the best hitters in baseball over the past few weeks. They should tee off on Carson Palmquist in the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field. Suarez now leads the MLB in RBIs and is batting .308 with a 1.146 OPS over the past 15 days. He should pick up multiple hits in this game and rack up at least two total bases. Meanwhile, Naylor is batting .367 with a .958 OPS over the past two weeks. He has combined for 19 runs and RBIs over his last 12 games and should generate runs in this game as well. That is why my best bet for this game is a same-game parlay with the Diamondbacks moneyline, Eugenio Suarez to record 2+ total bases and Josh Naylor to total 2+ hits + runs + RBIs.
