The set-up: The Colorado Rockies used a 14-hit attack to crush St. Louis 10-0 on Friday, their fifth win in six games. It was a nice bounce-back for Colorado, which lost Thursday 2-1 at Philadelphia in 11 innings. The Rockies had scored six or more runs in six consecutive contests before being held to that one run on Thursday and had just two runs through seven innings last night, before exploding for eight runs in an eighth-inning rally. St. Louis has now gone 1-3 on its six-game road trip, scoring a total of four runs in the defeats. Colorado's 32-18 record leads the NL West while the Cards' 23-22 record has them close (one game back of the first-place Cubs) in the tightly-contested NL Central (top-four teams are within two games of each other).

The pitching matchup: Adam Wainwright (4-3 & 4.81 ERA) gets the start for St. Louis up against Colorado's Kyle Freeland (5-2 & 3.31 ERA). The veteran Wainwright started slowly in 2017 but takes the mound having won four consecutive decisions. The 35-year-old has been superb in his last two outings, winning both while allowing one run on nine hits over 13 1/3 innings. More to the point in this game, Wainwright has dominated the Rockies throughout his career, going 9-1 (3-0 at Coors Field) with one shutout and a 1.70 ERA in 10 starts and four relief appearances. Freeland's a rookie who has allowed three ERs or fewer in each of his last seven starts, posting a 4-1 record in that span (Rockies are 6-1). This marks his first career start against the Cards.

The pick: In somewhat of a surprise, Colorado has been better on the road (18-8) than here at Coors (14-10) in 2017. In fact, both of Freeland's losses this season have come at home, where the rookie has posted a 3.80 ERA as opposed to a 2.89 mark on the road. Getting back to Wainwright, he's 8-1 with a 1.81 ERA in his 10 career starts against the Rockies (Cards are 8-2) and comes in pitching very well. I'm backing the vet over the rookie in this one and will make the Cards a 10* play.