First pitch: Wednesday, 9:40 p.m. ET
Line: Colorado +155, Los Angeles -165, Total: 9.5

The Rockies will be looking to take the third of a four-game set against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.

Colorado has been up-and-down recently over the past month or so, but the team is definitely up coming into this one. The Rockies have won six straight and eight of their past nine heading into this contest, and they can secure a series win over the Diamondbacks by coming away with a victory on Wednesday. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have now lost four of their past five games. Their lead over the Rockies in the NL wild card race is now only three games, so this matchup is definitely going to be important. Whoever has homefield advantage in the wild card game will have a huge edge later in the year, so these teams are going to continue to battle for positioning in the standings. The starters in this Wednesday night matchup are set to be RHP German Marquez (10-6, 4.27 ERA, 136 K) for the Rockies and LHP Patrick Corbin (13-12, 4.16 ERA, 161 K) for the Diamondbacks. It’s worth noting that Colorado is an impressive 25-23 against the money line as a road underdog of +125 to +175 over the past two seasons. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, are 27-13 against the money line at home when the total is 9 to 9.5 on the year.

The Rockies are looking to keep this thing rolling on Wednesday and they’ll need a solid performance out of Marquez in order to do that. Marquez did not pitch very well in his most recent trip to the mound, as he allowed two earned runs in four innings of work in a start against the Dodgers on Sep. 8. He had, however, pitched six innings in each of his previous three starts and allowed an average of three earned runs per start in those contests. If he can give Colorado a quality start on Wednesday then it would be big for the team, but it should be noted that he allowed four earned runs in six innings in a 5-1 loss against this same Diamondbacks team on Sep. 3. As for Colorado’s lineup, two guys to pay close attention to are OF Charlie Blackmon and 2B DJ LeMahieu. The two of them are a combined 22-for-60 with two doubles, four triples, three homers, and eight RBI against Patrick Corbin in their careers. Both guys are incredible hitters, but they clearly like this matchup and should be counted on to produce on Wednesday.

The Diamondbacks aren’t necessarily going to be kicking themselves over their poor play as of late, but they definitely want to get themselves going soon. One positive for Arizona is that Corbin is going to be on the mound here and the lefty allowed just one earned run in 55.1 innings of work against the Rockies on Sep. 2. If he can turn in a similar outing here then it’d be hard to imagine the Diamondbacks dropping this one. Corbin did, however, allow a miserable eight earned runs in 4.1 innings of work in his most recent start, and that same pitcher can’t show up on Wednesday. Offensively, 1B Paul Goldschmidt should be able to do some serious damage on Wednesday. Goldschmidt has really hit Marquez hard in his career, as he is 4-for-8 with two homers and four RBI against the righty in their head-to-head history. If he can go yard once again on Wednesday then that would be huge for Arizona.