Victory has been within reach for the Colorado Rockies (19-67) in the first two games of the series against the Houston Astros (52-34). The recent trend of “close, but no cigar” has been prevalent for Colorado over the last month, as they’ve played relatively better baseball.

The struggles at home are the most glaring problem for the Rockies as they have lost 14 consecutive home series (16 dating back to 2024). They are 8-34, which is the worst home start in the modern era after 42 games. The Rockies seem to be on a quest to dispel the notion that any player who calls Coors Field home is going to hit.

Meanwhile, the boys in purple will send out left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-9, 5.56 ERA) to make the start on the hill. Freeland had a rough go of it in his last outing, his first start back from a back injury. He looked rusty against the Milwaukee Brewers, giving up six runs on eight hits over four innings of work. It snapped a string of quality starts for Freeland and he’ll try to settle in against the Astros. He has only two career starts against the Astros, totaling 12 1/3 innings, during which he has a 4.38 ERA.

The Astros counter with a lefty of their own in Brandon Walter (1-1, 3.34 ERA). A former 26th-round draft pick by the Boston Red Sox in 2019, Walter made his big league debut in 2023 for Boston as a reliever. He missed the 2024 season due to injury, was released in August by the Red Sox, and quickly picked up on a minor league deal by the Astros. They kept him around, and he’s spent most of the year in Triple-A. He’s made five starts, totaling 29 2⁄3 innings, for the Astros with 30 strikeouts against two walks. In his last outing on June 27, he allowed one run on five hits over six innings against the Chicago Cubs. In all four of his starts in June, he went six innings in all of them, allowing no more than two runs in three of them.

Pitching has held its own in this series, but the offense needs to come through and Freeland needs a bounceback start.

First Pitch: 6:40 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.tv/MLB.tv

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Lineups:

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