The San Francisco Giants play host the the San Diego Padres on Wednesday Afternoon for the final game in a 3-game series. It is safe to say that the Padres have been one of the most confusing teams in baseball this season but still manage to find themselves in 2nd in the NL West with a 71-59 record. The Giants on the other hand are not having the same season as last falling well out of the playoff picture finding themselves 5 games below .500.
PADRES LOOKING TO BUILD MOMENTUM
Although they are second in the NL West this is not the season the Padres were looking to have. In saying this anything can happen in the playoffs and the Padres still have the chance to get there. Despite their 71-59 record they have been mediocre this month going 14-13 through the first 27 games, safe to say the Soto and Bell trade hasn’t had the immediate affect the team was hoping for.
This lineup can produce runs scoring a league 13th 4.4 runs per game, they have struggled in their last 10 however scoring just 3.9 runs per game with a team batting average of .236. They will face a left-handed pitcher in this matchup from which they are hitting .352 in the last 10. Manny Machado is having a standout season for the Padres batting in 81 RBI’s to go with 24 homers.
Taking the mound for the Padres in this one is Joe Musgrove. At the start of the season Musgrove looked unstoppable and on his way to a CY Young, whilst that may no longer be the case he is still capable of delivering. For the season he is posting a 8-6 record over 142.2 innings of work, good for a 2.97 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. He has struck out 138 batters whilst only walking 29. He struggled in his last start out giving up 8 hits and 5 runs to the Royals but has been excellent against the Giants this season, giving up 1 run in his lat 3 starts combined against San Fran.
WOOD, GIANTS NEED MIRACLES
The San Francisco Giants are far from the team we saw last year heading into this one with a record below .500, and out of the playoff picture. The Giants were five games above .500 going into the All-Star break, but they lost seven straight games to open the second half of the season and are in another rut right now.
I mentioned how the Padres have struggled to get runs in their last 10 games, well San Francisco makes the Padres look like the best batting team in baseball. In their last 10 games the Giants are batting a combined .195, with an on-base percentage of .270 scoring just 2.87 runs per game. The pitching staff isn’t helping either with Giants starters throwing a combined 7.46 ERA in the last 10. Wilmer Flores is one of the teams only hopes, currently with a team best 60 RBI’s whilst Joe Pederson leads the team with 19 home-runs.
Taking the mound in this one is veteran Alex Wood. As we mentioned one of the main factors in the Giants slump is their starting pitching and Wood is one they need to step up in the rotation. Coming into this game he finds himself with a losing record of 8-11, over 126 innings of play; this accumulates too a 5.00 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. He has struggled immensely in his last 2 starts giving up 8 runs on 6 hits in 3 innings against the Twins and 7 runs in 4.2 innings against Colorado.
PADRES GET CONFIDENCE BOOSTING WIN
I have found myself wanting to back the Padres many times this year; and for good reason, they have the All-Stars to be one of the best teams in the MLB. Whilst they haven’t shown us that they are still more than capable of winning games we expect them too. Alex Wood has struggled this season, giving up 5+ hits in 4 of his lat 5 starts. I am happily taking the value on the Padres to get a win thanks to the struggling Wood and trusting in Musgrove to hold this struggling team at bay.
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Thanks for reading, Dave Covers Spreads