The Seattle Mariners bested the San Diego Padres yesterday with a 5-1 finish to open their weekend series at Petco Park. Tonight, they look to do it again and steal another game on the road with first pitch scheduled for 8:40 p.m. EST.
Here’s a Padres vs. Mariners prediction and pick for the action.
Padres vs. Mariners prediction, preview
This Padres offense is one of baseball’s best at putting the ball in play. The team ranks third in team batting average, and 10th in OBP with six players all batting .290 or better on varying sample sizes, though none have fewer than 58 plate appearances on the season. With Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. both batting above .300, while Jackson Merrill’s average sits at an astounding .389 through his first 72 at-bats.
The problem, however, remains on the scoreboard. Despite their hitting success, the team falls 13th in runs and 15th in total RBI. If they can figure out how to inject a bit more life into the offense, this team will be truly scary.
Nick Pivetta takes the mound for San Diego tonight with a 3.05 ERA and 1.06 WHIP, plus 49 strikeouts in 44.1 innings this year. He faces a Mariners offense which produces with the best of them, but presents a dichotomy of sorts as they can score, but don’t hit as consistently. The Mariners fall 19th in team BA, though they’re 10th in OBP. However, they strike through the big play with 59 home runs on the campaign, the league’s sixth-best mark, primarily thanks to 14 long balls from Cal Raleigh and 10 from Jorge Polanco.
Emerson Hancock is scheduled to start for the Mariners. He’s seen just 28.2 innings of work to this point, but the results aren’t particularly encouraging with a 6.91 ERA and 1.71 WHIP to show for it. The Padres could very well get to him early and often.
Padres vs. Mariners pick, best bet
The Padres enter tonight’s game as -192 favorites to win on the Moneyline. They’re listed at +125 to cover the -1.5 run line, while the Mariners are +160 to win on the Moneyline outright. The game total sits at 8.5 combined runs.
The Mariners’ offense can put up runs in a hurry, but they may be hard-pressed to repeat last night’s performance. Pivetta looks like one of the best pitchers in the game right now, and Seattle’s starter doesn’t strike confidence against a lineup with plenty of star power to go around.
With that in mind, Padres -1.5 is still the top pick for Saturday’s outing. I fully expect San Diego to come out swinging and get to Hancock early for a high-scoring win.
