Pick on the Total for Pirates-Padres on July 25

The National League Cy Young Award race is very murky, but San Diego Padres starter Blake Snell has shaken off a bad first month and a half of the season get right in the thick of the award chase and will look to keep his recent success going at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. San Diego Padres (-275, 8.5)

Snell currently has just a 6-8 record this season due in large part to posting a 5.40 ERA in his first nine starts of the season, but has found a different gear since that stretch with two runs or fewer allowed in each of his past 11 starts since that shaky stretch.

In this 11 start span, Snell has a 0.71 ERA o with two home runs and five runs in total allowed across 63 innings in total while racking up 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

The Padres have needed every bit of his superb pitching as the lineup has struggled this season, as the team’s 4.1 runs per game at home this season are 21st in the league while their .235 batting average entering the series being the second-worst in the National League this season.

Both bullpens have dealt with injuries this season, causing for the Padres to enter the series 15th among MLB teams in bullpen ERA while the Pirates entered 22nd in this category, but both catch a break with the lineups in this game, especially given the recent form of the Pirates offense.

Since the beginning of May, the Pirates have scored the fewest runs of any team in the National League with an average of 3.61 runs per game while also owning a National League-worst .225 batting average in their last 70 games entering this series with their 56 home runs in this span being the fewest among all 30 MLB teams.

With the recent form of both these offenses coupled with the dominance of Snell the past 60 days, pitching will reign supreme in San Diego on Tuesday.

The Play: Pirates vs. Padres Under 8.5