On another full day of baseball this Saturday, one of the four games under the lights is the MLB-leading Padres in Houston trying to avoid back-to-back losses to the Astros. First pitch of this game at Daikin Park is set for 7:10 p.m. ET on FS1. With so many ways to break down the matchup, here are a few of my best bets for Padres at Astros on 4/19/25.
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Here is a look at my best bets for Astros vs. Padres on 4/19/25.
Best Bets for Astros vs. Padres on 4/19/25 from DraftKings Sportsbook
Starting Pitcher Race to 3 Strikeouts (Both Pitchers Must Start): Hayden Wesneski over Michael King (-105)
Let’s start at the beginning with an exciting race to three strikeouts prop. Last night, the battle between Jacob deGrom and Yoshinobu Yamamoto was epic throughout the game, but the race to three strikeouts was an awesome way to start the game. While these two pitchers aren’t likely to stage quite such an epic duel, they do both have plenty of punchout potential.
King is the more well-known of the two pitchers and has 24 strikeouts in 22 1/3 innings. However, he has actually finished with fewer than four strikeouts in two of his four starts this year.
Wesneski has at least five strikeouts in each of his three starts and has 21 strikeouts in just 18 innings. His 10.5 K/9 is higher coming into the game than King’s 9.7 K/9. The one counterargument is that the Padres do have the lowest K% in the MLB at just 17.6%. The Astros are also above average but have a higher 22.0% K%.
However, I’m taking Wesneski in this race since he has a higher strikeout rate overall and will have the advantage of pitching each inning first as the home team pitcher. It’s a quick-hitter that could go either way, but Wesneski isn’t getting the respect he deserves after his fast start to the season.
Total Strikeouts Thrown over 14.5 (-145)
Since both starting pitchers have such high strikeout ceilings, getting at least 15 total in the game feels like a strong option to mix into parlays or take straight-up, even at these short odds.
In the first game of the series, the Padres struck out seven times and the Astros just four. However, the starting pitchers in that matchup were Kyle Hart and Ryan Gusto, two starters definitely not known for their high strikeout numbers.
With King and Wesneski each producing more than a strikeout per inning and both bullpens well-stocked with power arms, I expect this to comfortably go over the 15 strikeouts to pay this off as one of my top Padres-Astros bets.
Cam Smith 2+ Hits (+550)
Since my first two picks in this game were conservative, let’s get wild and take a long shot for the last of my three Padres-Astros bets this Saturday. Rookie Cam Smith is coming off his first multi-home run game after going 2-for-4 in the series opener against the Friars. I highlighted him as one of my top DFS plays of the day, and I think there’s a good chance he can deliver on this long-shot play as well.
Smith has multiple hits in three of his last eight games while going 8-for-28 (.286) with a 39.1% hard-hit rate. He also has three barrels for a 13.0% barrel rate over those eight games, showing he is seeing the ball well and hitting it hard.
Even though King is a righty, the matchup is actually not bad for Smith, since King is usually more effective against lefties. This year, righties are hitting .250 against King while lefties are hitting just .160. That trend is a small sample size, but it matches his career splits as well. Another split in Smith’s favor is that he has hit .280 at home compared to just .167 on the road.
