The Atlanta Braves kicked off their four-game visit to the Mile High City by clobbering the Colorado Rockies 13-6. The Braves are trying to make up ground on the first-place New York Mets in the NL East and had lost three of their last five prior to the victory.
Colorado is in last place in the NL West, 11 games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies have lost six of their last 10 and have not won consecutive games since the first week of May.
Can the Braves make it two in a row or will the Rockies even up the series? Find out with our free MLB betting picks and predictions for Braves vs. Rockies on June 3.
Braves vs Rockies odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
The Braves opened as big -169 favorites and have gone as high as -189. The Rockies started at +150 and can be had at +160. The total has stayed at 11 with the Under at +100 and the Over at -115.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until first pitch and be sure to check out the full MLB odds before placing your bets.
Braves vs Rockies predictions
Picks made on 6/3/2022 at 2:10 p.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Braves vs Rockies game info
• Location: Coors Field, Denver, CO
• Date: Friday, June 3, 2022
• First pitch: 8:40 p.m. ET
• TV: Apple TV+
Braves vs Rockies betting preview
Starting pitchers
Max Fried (5-2, 3.10 ERA): Fried has proven he can chew up innings even if he doesn’t get the decision. The 28-year-old lefty has started 10 games and has made it to at least the fifth inning in all of them. Fried is eighth in the league in hits allowed and 15th in strikeouts. Fried’s ERA is 3.10, but over his last seven games, he has a 2.93 ERA and a 4-0 record. In his last start, Fried got the win over the Miami Marlins, going six innings, allowing one run on six hits, and striking out five.
Chad Kuhl (4-2, 3.56 ERA): This will be the 10th start for the former Pittsburgh Pirate and he will be facing a team that hung 13 runs on the Rockies Thursday night. The 29-year-old right hander has regressed a bit from his strong start to the season. Kuhl’s ERA has gone from 3.56 to 4.30. In two of his last three starts he failed to make it to the fifth inning. He did get a win in his last outing, going 6.1 innings against the Washington Nationals, allowing two runs on seven hits.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Braves: Tyler Matzek RP (Out), Manny Pina C (OUT) Eddie Rosario LF (Out), Kirby Yates RP (Out), Mike Soroka SP (Out).
Rockies: Yonathan Daza CF (Questionable), Kris Bryant LF (Out), Kyle Freeland SP (Questionable).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Braves are 12-30 in the last 42 meetings between the two teams. Find more MLB betting trends for Braves vs. Rockies
Braves vs Rockies picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Moneyline analysis
It ‘s hard to fathom why the Colorado Rockies can have the best batting average in the major leagues but be in last place in the National League West. The Rockies are second in hits, seventh in RBI, and fourth in runs, but still have just 23 wins to show for it.
The Rockies have the ability to get to Braves starter Max Fried. Colorado has 140 of its 326 hits against left-handed pitching, despite having just 453 at bats against them, compared to 1,293 against righties — doing the bulk of its damage against LHPs.
The problem for Colorado is its own pitching. The Rockies are next to last in team ERA at 5.34. They’re also last in hits allowed with 506, second-last in runs allowed at 265, and 11th in home runs allowed with 53.
Part of issue is where they play. Coors Field is definitely a hitter’s ballpark, where the high altitude makes the ball a lot livelier. The park is constantly ranked as the No. 1 hitter-friendly stadiums.
Atlanta certainly took advantage of it in Thursday’s game. The Braves scored 13 runs, including two home runs from Travis d’Arnoud. The Braves, who are 15th in the league in batting average, had 18 hits in the game.
But Chad Kuhl will go to the mound on Friday to try and cool off Atlanta’s bats. He showed some strong outings early in the season, and after some May bumps, he’s gone back to being more dependable. Against his old team, the Pirates, on May 23, Kuhl pitched 4.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits. In his last start, he went 6.1 innings against the Nationals, allowing two runs on seven hits.
Look for him to continue that trend against the Braves, and for the Rockies’ bats to ring out against another lefty.
Prediction: Rockies moneyline (+160 at Caesars)
Over/Under analysis
Though Coors Field is known as a hitter’s park, and the Thursday game easily got to the Over, the Under is in play for Friday’s game.
One reason is the two starting pitchers. Atlanta’s Max Fried has been giving the Braves quality starts, and although the Rockies hit lefties well, he’s not a liability to give up too much.
Colorado will counter with Chad Kuhl. Kuhl has turned into the ace of the Rockies pitching staff, which is kind of like being valedictorian of summer school. Still, he has been able to quiet bats before, and should do so in this spot.
The trend is towards the Under, which is 5-1 in the last six meetings in Colorado and 5-2 overall. The Under is 4-1 in the Rockies’ last five as a home underdog and 11-4 in their last 15 games against a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15.
Furthermore, the Braves have hit the Under in five of their last six against totals of 11 runs or more.
Prediction: Under 11 (+100 at WynnBet)
Best bet
Both pitchers in Friday’s game have put up quality numbers and can go past the fifth inning. Fried has pitched five or more innings in all 10 of his starts, while Kuhl has had nine starts and gotten to the fifth inning in five of them.
Both teams are definitely capable of putting up big numbers. In the Rockies’ case, they usually follow it up with a low-scoring outing.
The Rockies scored 13 on Wednesday against the Marlins. But the next night, when facing the Braves, they scored six, four of them coming in the fourth inning. On Monday, they beat the Marlins 7-1, but on Tuesday managed just one run.
The Braves aren’t quite as reliable, but they do follow that trend on occasion. They had six runs on Sunday, then followed it up with two. Twice in May, they scored nine runs, posting three and four runs, respectively, in the following games.
The pitching is good enough to keep this Under six runs for the first five innings — the Braves aren’t scoring 13 runs again on Friday.
Pick: First 5 Under 6.5 (-120 at FanDuel)
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