San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres Best Bet: Will the Bats Be Awake in San Francisco Tonight?
The San Francisco Giants face off against the San Deigo Padres. Will the bats be awake in San Francisco tonight? Ben Rajavuori shares his best bet for the game.
Ben Rajavuori - June 21, 2023, 4:55 PM EDT
5 minSan Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres Best Bet: Will the Bats Be Awake in San Francisco Tonight?
The San Francisco Giants have hopped out to a 2-0 lead in the series against the San Diego Padres and can seal the series with a win tonight. The Giants are red hot and have improved their record to 41-32 after sitting at .500 with a record of 32-32 a few weeks ago. They have won nine games and have looked great at the plate, and they have another chance to do so against Yu Darvish tonight.
Giants vs. Padres Start Time and Where to Watch
- Date: June 21, 2023
- Time: 9:45 pm ET
- Where to Watch: MLB.TV
San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres Prediction
Over the last 30 days, the Giants rank first in the MLB with a .357 OBP and third with a .279 team batting average. The hot bats have helped their win streak, but they have struggled with consistent pitching, mostly due to injury. Their rotation is thin right now, and tonight they have to go with another bullpen game with Ryan Walker starting. Walker's numbers in this game don't really mean a whole lot since he will likely pitch just one inning, maybe two.
However, the Giant's bullpen has been less than stellar, so I expect the Padres to put up some good runs today. The Giants have Sean Manaea in the bullpen, who used to start for the team, so that he may see at least a few innings tonight, but he has a 5.84 ERA on the season and has struggled. The overall "available" bullpen (guys who have one or more days of rest) has a 4.96 ERA.
The Giants shouldn't be too concerned with limiting runs tonight, though, because their offense can surely get it done in this game against Yu Darvish. Yu Darvish hasn't looked the same since getting runner-up for the Cy Young award in 2020. He's still been good, just not as dominant as I remember. This year, he has really struggled, as his 4.74 ERA tells the story. He only has five quality starts in 13 outings, and the Padres are 6-7 in his starts. The Bad news for Darvish is that the Giants have absolutely CRUSHED him in his career.
In ten career starts against the Giants, Darvish has a 6.26 ERA, the highest ERA he has against ANY team in the MLB with more than one career start. It's even worse when he's on the road, too. In four career starts at Oracle Park, Darvish has a 10.13 ERA, which is his highest ERA in any ballpark in the MLB. Darvish has had a start against the Giants once this year already at home, where he gave up four runs in six innings in a 6-4 win. The Giants roster is hitting .296 off Darvish with eight home runs in just 98 at-bats.
The Giant's bats have already been on fire, but tonight they face a pitcher they have dominated in his career. The only reason I'm not taking the Giants' moneyline is that bullpen games can be scary, and the Padres also have talented bats that can keep up against a less-than-average Giant's bullpen. All in all, this should be a high-scoring game tonight.
San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres Best Bet
2 Unit Pick: Giants/Padres Over 8.5 -115 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds for this pick
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