Quick Picks with Coach Rick Bowe, MLB Picks, MLB Free Picks, MLB Predictions 4/16/26

Quick Picks with Coach Rick Bowe, MLB Picks, MLB Free Picks, MLB Predictions 4/16/26

COLORADO @ HOUSTON (HOU -175, 8.5)

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ROCKIES @ ASTROS 4/16/26

Houston Astros manager Joe Espada talked about the chance facing the pitchers tasked with filling in for the starters who ended up on the injured list during the recent road trip before Spencer Arrighetti pitched six solid innings on Wednesday.

Making the most of his first opportunity, Arrighetti struck out ten batters to help the Astros defeat the visiting Colorado Rockies 3-1. On Thursday, the teams will play their final interleague game of the series.

During their 1-9 road trip, the Astros lost Hunter Brown, Cristian Javier, and Tatsuya Imai, which made it necessary to search their farm system for starting pitchers. "I know that we're going to get our starters to go deep in the game," Espada stated, expressing Houston's hope that Arrighetti started a timely trend of quality starts. "It's nice to see Spencer do what he did and give our bullpen a bit of a rest and an opportunity to sweep the Rockies (Thursday)." "We've been in a stretch where we haven't been able to get that stuff done, but eventually it will happen."

The Astros' series finale will begin on Thursday with right-hander Ryan Weiss (0-2, 7.36 ERA). This season, he has made five appearances, all of which have come from the bullpen. Last Friday, in a 9-6 away defeat to the Seattle Mariners, he threw 64 pitches over 2.1 innings, gave up two runs on four hits, two walks, and recorded four strikeouts. On March 30 and April 3, Weiss faced the Boston Red Sox and Athletics in back-to-back shutout appearances, giving up three hits and one walk while striking out five batters in five innings.

Weiss will play in his first career game against Colorado after making his major league debut on March 27 against the Los Angeles Angels. He has played in the KBO League for the last two seasons. Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer stated that fellow right-hander Chase Dollander (1-1, 4.61) will get the majority of the innings, while the Rockies will start Juan Mejia (0-2, 5.40) on Thursday.

Dollander has appeared in 4 games but has yet to start one. His three four-inning relief outings have tied the second-most in a single season team record. On March 30, Dollander pitched four innings against Toronto and gave up four runs on five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts, but he still picked up the win as the Rockies put up 14 runs.

In his two career starts versus the Astros, both from the previous season, Dollander is 0-2 with a 7.27 ERA. On August 27, 2025, he was the pitcher of record in a 4-0 road defeat to the Astros after striking out seven batters in six innings while giving up one run on three hits and four walks.

First baseman Troy Johnston and third baseman Willi Castro left the Rockies after getting struck by pitches in the first and fourth innings, respectively. Castro, whose RBI double in the second gave the Rockies their only run, left with a right hand bruise, while Johnston had a right quad contusion. "Troy is going to be fine." Schaeffer stated, "He simply couldn't move side to side out there to play defense." "X-rays are negative, which is good, Willi. Willi was struck in the hand. It will hurt.

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FREE PICK: OVER 8.5

Both teams will opt for a bullpen game. That’s not great news for the Astros who have one of the worst bullpens in baseball. Houston ranks 29th with a bullpen ERA of 6.12. The Astros will start Ryan Weiss who has an ERA of 7.36. He’s had some quality appearances, but his worst came on April 6…against these Rockies! He pitched 2.2 innings, allowed 8 hits, 1 HR, 2 BB, and 6 ER. The Rockies will start Juan Mejia and then turn it over to Chase Dollander who is 1-1 with a 4.61 ERA. Dollander has been serviceable, but the Rockies pitching staff allows an ERA of 4.18 and they’ve given up 22 homers so far this season. Four of the last six Rockies games have gone Over the total. Houston is 3rd in MLB in scoring (5.7 runs per game) and 13 of their 17 games have gone Over.

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