Tuesday’s MLB slate is full to the brim with exciting action on the diamonds as every single team takes the field. As the later games on the schedule get rolling, some California dreamin’ is on deck on the coast as the San Francisco Giants host the San Diego Padres at 9:45 p.m. EST. The visitors took yesterday’s game with a 1-0 final score, but one has to imagine tonight leads to a higher-scoring affair.
Here’s a Giants vs. Padres prediction and pick for Tuesday night’s matchup.
Giants vs. Padres prediction, preview
San Francisco Giants
The Giants sit third in the NL West with a 33-27 record on the campaign. However, they’re just 4-6 across their last 10 contests and are still looking to shed some bad vibes after getting swept three games to none by the Tigers last week.
This offense has cooled down considerably in recent weeks, ranking bottom five in team average and OPS over the last 15 days with the fewest runs scored of any team in that sample. Their .232 AVG and .686 OPS on the year so far also rank inside the bottom 10 teams, but they’re scoring at about a league-average rate with the 16th-most runs overall.
Heliot Ramos looks like a star with the team lead in hits, 10 home runs, and an .848 OPS. Jung Hoo Lee has plenty of highlight-worthy plays, while Wilmer Flores and Matt Chapman both have 10 homers and an OPS above .731. The rest of the lineup looks a bit more questionable, but they’re still a respectable team since San Francisco hangs their hats on pitching with a staff inside the top-10 in ERA, WHIP, strikeouts, and opponent average.
San Diego Padres
Meanwhile, the Padres have been hot-and-cold this campaign but are starting to come back online with a 7-3 record across their last 10 contests. San Diego recently passed the Giants in the NL West standings to take hold of second place at 34-24, and now, they won’t surrender that lead without a battle.
Manny Machado leads the way for the Friars with the most hits and best slash line of their batters at .302/.367/.479 and an .846 OPS. Luis Arraez isn’t far behind with a .288 AVG, and while Fernando Tatis Jr. is in the midst of a slump, he’s still third in hits by a considerable margin and boasts at team-best 13 homers. It’s also worth noting Jackson Merrill’s OBP sits at .370, only bested by Jake Cronenworth’s .372 (in an albeit still-limited sample size).
The Padres also come in eighth in ERA, 10th in WHIP, and 11th in strikeouts, so their pitching staff is also holding up their end of the bargain. If they can keep rolling, the team could do same damage come postseason time.
Giants vs. Padres pick, best bet
Second-year righty Landen Roupp gets the start for the Giants tonight at Oracle Park. He’s thrown 56.0 innings across 11 starts this season with a 3.54 ERA and 56 strikeouts, though his 1.43 WHIP remains on the high end with a 9.64 H/9 and 3.21 BB/9.
For the Padres, they roll out rookie right-hander Ryan Bergert this evening. He’s an interesting case having only seen action in four games via relief appearances. He escaped all but one of those outings without allowing a single hit, and he logged a strikeout in two of them. However, we can look at his minor league stats in AAA ball for some contest. In 36.0 innings across nine starts, he threw to the tune of a 3.75 ERA and 1.44 WHIP with 37 punchouts.
The Giants are -162 favorites on the Moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook, while the Padres are +136 underdogs to win. With a high run total of 10 combined runs, the highest on tonight’s slate, oddsmakers anticipate a high-scoring affair.
With Bergert making his first MLB start tonight, I hesitate to choose the Padres to cover. However, I do think their offense should outperform the Giants’, especially since they’re coming in as the hotter team. The San Diego Moneyline looks good at plus odds.
Best bet: SD Padres Moneyline (+136)
Click the odds to tail!
