Atlanta Braves vs. Colorado Rockies Preview and Pick

Atlanta Braves (41-43) – Tommy Hanson +115, 9 O/U at Colorado Rockies (45-39) – Aaron Cook -125, 9 O/U, Coors Field, Denver, Colo., 8:40 PM EST, Thursday

by Badger of Predictem.com

The suddenly surging Atlanta Braves will try and continue their climb back toward the .500 mark when they send rookie right-hander Tommy Hanson out to the bump to face off against the Colorado Rockies and their top right-hander Aaron Cook.

The Braves are fresh off of a series win over the Chicago Cubs, taking the final two games of the three-game set including yesterday’s 4-1 victory in the finale. The Braves offense is still a work in progress, but their pitching has been lights out of late as they are 7-3 in their last 10 games and held the Cubs to just six runs in the entire series in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field with back-to-back one-run games thrown by Javier Vazquez and Kenshin Kawakami.

Now they will hand the ball to their rookie sensation Hanson, who has been spectacular since his call up from Triple-A going 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.25 WHIP in his six major league starts.

Hanson will have to control one of the hottest teams in all of baseball though, as the Rockies are 28-11 since Jim Tracy took over as skipper for Clint Hurdle on May 29th and have surged right back into the thick of things in the National League pennant race. The Rockies are coming off of a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals, outscoring the Nats 16-8, to move to 4-2 on their current homestand.

Cook opened the year as the Rockies top starter and his 8-3 record with a 3.76 ERA is certainly impressive, but the Rockies are just 8-9 in his 17 starts so far this season. He left his last start on Saturday due to what was termed “shortness of breath” in his chest, so it should be interesting how he responds tonight.

Oddsmakers list the game with Cook and the Rockies as -125 favorites on the moneyline, but there are still a few offshore sportsbooks that have the game completely off the board due to the questions surrounding Cook and his health. That makes the Braves and Hanson as valuable +115 underdogs on the dimeline, with the over/under total listed at 9 currently.

Both pitchers have been solid their last few starts, but they’ve done it using opposite methods.

Hanson is 3-0 in his last four starts (team is 3-1), but he’s only allowed one run and 12 hits in 24.1 innings pitched. His last outing he went seven strong with just three hits and one run, but the Braves still found a way to lose 5-3 to the Nationals.

Meanwhile, Cook has allowed a few more hits (29) and a handful more runs (8) over his last four outings which includes 27 innings, but the results have been the same as the Rockies have gone 3-1 in those contests. He went five innings before being taken out with his chest issues last time out, in what turned into an 11-7 loss to the Diamondbacks.

Offensively these teams are on different playing fields as well, as the Rockies are averaging just over five runs per game (5.1) on their current six game homestand which is just slightly ahead of their season-long scoring pace (5.04 – 8th in MLB). Meanwhile the Braves have struggled to back their strong pitching all season long as they have averaged 3.8 runs on their current road trip, which is below their season average of 4.14 (22nd).

Atlanta has gotten the best of the Rockies in recent times, going 6-2 in their last eight head-to-head meetings. The two teams split a four- game set earlier this season in Atlanta, but it was the Rockies that actually took three of four from the Braves when these two teams played at Coors Field last season. The Rockies are playing solid at home right now anyway, as they have won nine of their last 11 games at Coors overall.

Three of those four games last year stayed under the total, going against the recent betting trends that favor the over. The over is 4-1-2 in Cook’s last seven starts against the Braves, and the over is 4-1-2 in the last seven head-to-head meetings overall, but as mentioned, most of those games were played in Atlanta.

Badger’s Pick: Hanson has yet to be listed as an underdog in any of his first six starts, so I question why he is listed as a dog here. Smells like a possible trap. But either way, I’ll take him versus a questionable Cook in this game tonight. Take Atlanta at +115 in a game that should stay under the total.

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