San Francisco Giants - Colorado Rockies

The Giants and the Rockies will play the series finale at AT&T Park on Thursday night. San Francisco will send Johnny Cueto to the mound, who is 2-0 with a 0.77 ERA in 3 starts against Colorado Rockies this season. He'll look to continue that dominance as the Giants pursue a National League Wild Card berth.  Cueto plays his final start of the regular season (his record is 17-5 with a 2.79 ERA). He is the clear favorite to win this game. The Rockies will counter with pitcher Jon Gray, who had a mixed performance in his last 2 outings. Gray pitched a shutout in which he struck out 16 batters on September 17, before surrendering 4 earned runs in just 4 innings in his last start. This game is a "must win" for the Giants, who enter Thursday 1 1/2 games behind the Wild Card-leading New York Mets, and just a game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals, for the 2nd Wild card spot. With that, I pick the San Francisco Giants to win this game straight on the Money Line (ML), No runs.

UPDATE September 30, 2016 - FINAL Result: San Francisco Giants 7-2 Colorado Rockies.  The San Francisco Giants provided strong offense on Thursday night, and a great performance [as expected] from starter Johnny Cueto, to record a much-needed 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.  Cueto's bunt single and the additional throwing error by the Rockies 3rd baseman Arenado, accounted for 2 runs in San Francisco's 3-run, 6-inning. The Giants victory kept them in the race for the National League Wild Card. The New York Mets (85-74) continue to hold on to the 1st Wild Card spot, while the Giants (84-75) possess the 2nd Wild Card berth, only 1 game back of the Mets. The St. Louis Cardinals (83-76) are also 1 game behind the Giants with a 4-3 win over Cincinnati on Thursday.