Bad news for the St. Louis Cardinals as they try to stay in the race in the NL Central and for a Wild-Card spot as future Hall of Fame catcher Yadier Molina could miss up to three weeks with a thumb injury. Molina was placed on the injured list as the team came out of the All-Star break last week.
Molina had missed 12 games the first time he went on the IL with the problem and had knocked in only three runs since his return so the thumb clearly was still bothering him. Here’s a look at two early-week MLB matchups and check back for MLB odds.
Top MLB Betting Picks of the Week – July 15th Edition
San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies
- When: Tuesday, 8:40 PM ET (MLB Extra Innings)
The Giants are last in the NL West but took two of three in Milwaukee over the weekend. In Sunday’s win, Brandon Belt hit a solo home run in the fifth inning, his 11th of the season and first since 6/27 vs. Arizona. Belt has reached base safely in 9 of his last 11 games, batting .341 (15-for-44) with 11 runs scored as of Monday. Giants third baseman Evan Longoria left Sunday’s game with a foot injury and manager Bruce Bochy confirmed that Longoria is battling plantar fasciitis on his left foot. He may be able to play through it, though. If not, Pablo Sandoval should man third.
Scheduled to be lefty Drew Pomeranz (2-9) on the mound Tuesday for San Francisco. Pomeranz gave up four runs on four hits over four innings of work in a loss to the Cardinals in his last outing on July 5. Pomeranz allowed six hits, and he walked four in the loss to the Cardinals. He got off to a poor start essentially immediately, giving up a solo homer to Jose Martinez and a two-run shot to Paul Goldschmidt.
There have been a few decent starts for the left-hander, but for the most part, Pomeranz has really struggled for the Giants in 2019 with a 6.42 ERA and ugly 1.77 WHIP. Pomeranz has been striking out batters at a healthy clip since the beginning of June (11.8 K/9) but has failed to surpass five innings in any of his six starts during that span while supplying a 4.13 ERA and 1.62 WHIP.
It’s rookie Peter Lambert (2-1, 6.67) for the Rockies. Lambert has had a rough first season at Coors Field. But in his last home start (against the Astros on July 3) he gave up two early homers but generally pitched well while giving up four runs in five innings. After a promising beginning to his big-league career, Lambert has now given up at least three runs in each of his last four starts, serving up eight homers with an 8:4 K:BB over 17.2 innings during that rough stretch. Three of those outings have been at Coors Field.
Colorado shortstop Trevor Story made history over the weekend by hitting his 20th home run of the season, becoming the first primary shortstop in Major League history to hit 20 or more home runs in each of his first four seasons. He surpassed shortstops Carlos Correa, Nomar Garciaparra and Cal Ripken Jr. who each had 20 or more home runs in each of their first three MLB seasons.
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals
- When: Wednesday, 8:15 PM ET (MLB Extra Innings)
The White Sox remain without one of their best hitters in Tim Anderson. He did field grounders on Sunday afternoon. But manager Rick Renteria cautioned after the workout that Anderson is not close to returning to Chicago’s active roster. “He’s still not pushing off that leg as well as we’d like,” Renteria told reporters, “but he’s healing.” The star shortstop has been sidelined since June 26 because of a high right ankle sprain and probably won’t be ready for major league action until early August.
Speaking of shortstops, the Royals have a terrific one in Adalberto Mondesi. Mondesi went 2-for-5 with an RBI and also recorded his major league-leading 30th stolen base in the Royals’ loss to the Tigers on Sunday. The dynamic 23-year-old switch-hitter owns a .267/.296/.438 triple-slash line with 46 runs scored, seven home runs and 52 RBI in 353 plate appearances.
It’s struggling Ivan Nova (4-8, 5.60) on the bump for Chicago. Nova is 2-1 with a 5.17 ERA in six career starts against the Royals, and he’s 1-0 with a 9.28 ERA in two starts at Kansas City. He has virtually broken even on the road, where he’s 40-41 with a 4.70 ERA lifetime.
The Royals go with lefty Danny Duffy (3-5, 4.64). Duffy lasted only two-plus innings on Friday against the Tigers after being struck by a line drive on the pitching hand. Duffy faced three more hitters — all of whom reached — before exiting with numbness in his left hand.
Expert MLB Betting Picks
Back Rockies and Royals.
