It has been another tough year for the Arizona Diamondbacks. They will end up with the worst record in the NL West for the second consecutive year. But they have a chance to disrupt the playoff hopes of the Colorado Rockies Thursday night by completing a three-game sweep.
The Diamondbacks are favorites by the slightest of margins paying -115 in MLB lines while the over/under is 9.
This was supposed to be a series for the Rockies to make up some ground in the tight NL West. Instead, the Arizona Diamondbacks (61-91, 37-40 home) have won the first two games to keep Colorado in third place in the division. Wednesday’s win for Arizona came against ace Ubaldo Jimenez in his bid to become the NL’s second 20 game winner.
The Colorado Rockies (82-69, 31-45 away) are in the midst of an untimely three-game skid. The Rockies trail first-place San Diego by three games in the NL West and trail second-place San Francisco by 2.5 games. They also trail Atlanta by three games for the wild card. They will host San Francisco in a three-game series this weekend, but they aren’t looking past Thursday’s game.
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Jeff Francis (4-5, 4.61 ERA) will start for the Rockies for the second time since coming off of the disabled list. He is 0-4 with an 8.68 ERA in his last five starts against Arizona, but he hasn’t faced them in more than two years. The left-hander has been on the disabled list twice this season and missed all of 2009 due to recovery from surgery.
Francis will be opposed by Ian Kennedy (9-9, 3.79 ERA). Kennedy has been outstanding in his last seven starts, going 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA and 44 strikeouts. The right-hander is 0-1 with a 3.68 ERA in four starts against Colorado.
