The San Francisco Giants are hosting the Colorado Rockies on Friday, pitting the two worst teams in the National League against each other at Oracle Park. Rockies mainstay Kyle Freeland is set to take the mound for the visitors, with 27-year-old righty Landen Roupp getting the nod for San Francisco.
The Giants are -124 Moneyline favorites in the series opener with the run line set at 1.5 and the total set at 7.5 runs. Here is a preview of the Friday night showdown, which is slated to get underway at 10:15 p.m. ET, featuring odds and lines from DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Rockies vs. Giants prediction, preview
Playing for the Rockies his entire career, Freeland has rarely put up gaudy numbers in the big leagues. Still, he entered 2026 with a positive WAR in six straight campaigns, plus a 107 career ERA+. The 33-year-old southpaw is putting up some of the worst numbers of his career across the board, though, with a 3-10 record, 6.63 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 74 ERA+ and -0.5 WAR. He has actually looked better this month, leading Colorado to two wins with a 1.35 ERA and 1.125 WHIP, even stringing together a complete game against the Royals on August 2. Per Baseball Savant, Freeland ranks in the first percentile in Pitching Run Value. On the other hand, his 34.1% chase rate is good for the 84th percentile, while his 5.1% walk rate ranks in the 96th.
The Giants average the fewest walks per game in MLB, so it isn’t as if they were going to draw a ton anyways. San Francisco’s .695 OPS is also the seventh-lowest home mark by any team in baseball. They are in the midst of a 3-9 skid, over which they have scored an NL-worst 32 runs. The front office traded Luis Arraez and Heliot Ramos two weeks ago, all while Matt Chapman’s injury led to a season-ending hernia surgery. Rafael Devers, Bryce Eldridge and Jung Hoo Lee are the only remaining active, qualified Giants with an OPS over .700. And even then, Devers is batting .167 with a .552 OPS across San Francisco’s last three series. Eldridge owns a .169 batting average and .537 OPS since July 30, while Lee is hitting just .222 with a .632 OPS dating all the way back to June 25.
There is added pressure on Roupp to hold his own down the stretch, considering the Giants dealt Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle away at the deadline and just lost Trevor McDonald to season-ending elbow surgery. Roupp has been up and down to the tune of a a 7-11 record and 4.22 ERA, but his 1.294 WHIP and 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings are career-bests. The righty posted a 1.29 ERA and 0.667 WHIP between July 6 and July 22, then a 9.72 ERA and 2.040 WHIP from July 28 to August 2, followed by 5.1 innings of one-run ball on August 8. But no matter which version of Roupp has showed up, the Giants have struggled, losing four straight and 10 of his last 12 outings.
Colorado has posted a .706 OPS away from home this season, paling in comparison to their .785 mark at Coors Field but still ranking No. 14 in MLB on the road. The Rockies have five lineup regulars with an OPS of at least .825 – Cole Carrigg, Mickey Moniak, Hunter Goodman, Jake McCarthy and TJ Rumfield – plus top prospect Zac Veen hit a homer in his season debut on Wednesday. Of those six sluggers, four have a higher OPS versus righties than they do against lefties. Playing at Oracle Park won’t exactly work in the lefties’ favor from a power perspective, but they should still combine to put plenty of balls in play.
Rockies vs. Giants pick, best bet
Best Bet: Total Runs Over 7.5 (-112)
The run total has exceeded 7.5 in 17 of the last 19 games that Freeland started, as well as eight straight for Roupp. The Rockies are better across the board against righties (like Roupp), while the Giants’ OPS against lefty starters is 44 points higher than their mark against righty starters. The teams have combined to score at least eight runs in seven of their 10 head-to-head matchups so far in 2026, too.
Strong Lean: Rafael Devers 2+ Strikeouts (+281)
The last time Freeland faced the Giants, he racked up nine strikeouts. Two of those came against Rafael Devers, who has struck out multiple times in two of his last five games. His 26.6% strikeout rate is the second-worst of his career, and it climbs to 31.8% versus lefties like Freeland.
