The Los Angeles Dodgers have lost two no-hitters in the last three days. On Saturday, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before giving up a solo shot to Jackson Holliday, and the Dodgers went on to lose that game. Los Angeles then held on to win yesterday after Tyler Glasnow and Blake Trienen pitched eight no-hit innings.
The Dodgers will host the Colorado Rockies for Game 2 of a three-game set tonight at 10:10 p.m. ET. Emmet Sheehan will take the mound for Los Angeles, while Germán Márquez will start for the Rockies.
Let’s break down this matchup with some odds and lines at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers prediction, preview
Despite a miserable season for Colorado — it already has 104 losses, 15 more than any other team in baseball — the Rockies do have a few things going for them. Colorado has had the league’s ninth-highest OPS at home, thanks to the extremely hitter-friendly conditions at high-altitude Coors Field. But the Rockies have been useless on the road, posting easily the worst OPS away from Coors Field. Plus, the pitching has been awful: Colorado has had a 6.00 staff ERA, one of just two teams with worse than a 5.00 mark. The Dodgers have been inconsistent all season but still lead the San Diego Padres by one game atop the division.
Sheehan shouldn’t be expected to record a no-hitter, but he should be pretty effective. In nine starts and two long-relief outings, he has posted a 3.59 ERA. He flashed ace-level potential on August 25, pitching seven innings of two-hit shoutout ball, walking one and striking out 10. Advanced numbers are fairly kind to him — he’s been elite at producing chases, whiffs, and strikeouts — but he’s really struggled to limit hard hits, ranking in the 11th percentile in average exit velocity, the seventh percentile in barrel rate, and the 14th percentile in hard hit rate. All in all, the Rockies have hit the ball softly for the most part, so he should be able to limit the damage tonight.
Márquez, meanwhile, has been one of Colorado’s better starters. That doesn’t mean much, though; in his 22 starts this season, the Venezuelan has posted a 6.19 ERA, by far the worst of his career in a full season. Advanced stats are extremely unkind to him: he ranks in the bottom decile in eight of the 12 Statcast categories. Unlike other Rockies, Márquez hasn’t been significantly better on the road, posting a 6.45 ERA at home and a 5.95 mark on the road. One of the categories in which Márquez has been comparatively less bad is his 26th percentile ground ball rate, which could be a problem against Los Angeles, which hits fly balls at the league’s highest rate.
Colorado Rockies at Los Angeles Dodgers pick, best bet
Best Bet: Los Angeles Dodgers -2.5 (-101)
The Dodgers have given me no reason to have faith in their offense, given that they’ve lost seven of their last 10 games and only won one of them by three or more runs. But Sheehan is a pretty good pitcher and Los Angeles should get All-Star catcher Will Smith back tonight.
Strong Lean: Over 9 (-106)
If the Dodgers are inconsistent, that has to mean that they’re good sometimes, right? If there’s any pitcher Los Angeles can get it going against, it’s Márquez, who gave up seven runs while getting two outs in his last start at Dodger Stadium.
