Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres Prediction: Can Manny Machado, Padres Take Down Diamondbacks?
The San Diego Padres will host the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night in an AL West battle. Can Manny Machado and the Padres outplay the D-backs? Ben Rajavuori provides his best bet in Diamondbacks vs. Padres.
Ben Rajavuori - July 5, 2024, 5:05 PM EDT
5 minArizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres Prediction: Can Manny Machado, Padres Take Down Diamondbacks?
The Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres open a three-game weekend series from Petco Park in San Diego tonight. This is already the third series of the season between these two divisional foes, with the Padres leading the season series 4–3.
DIAMONDBACKS VS. PADRES DATE, TIME, AND WHERE TO WATCH
- Date: July 5, 2024
- Start Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
- Where to Watch: MLB Extra Innings
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres Prediction
The Diamondbacks have been inching closer to .500 and now sit at 43–44 on the season, which is good for third place in the NL West. The Padres have been playing pretty good baseball recently and are 7–3 over the last 10 to bring their record to 48–43, which is second place in the NL West behind the Dodgers. If the Diamondbacks have a good series here, they will be closer to taking second place from the Padres. Neither team has their preferred starter on the mound tonight, as we are getting Slade Cecconi versus Randy Vasquez. Cecconi is 2–6 on the season with a 5.81 ERA in his rookie year. While he has had a few good spot starts, overall he has been very inconsistent and has struggled against the better lineups in the league. More importantly, this will be his third start against the Padres in the past two months. He faced them for the first time back on May 3, giving up six earned runs in 4.1 innings. Then, he faced them a month ago in June, giving up three earned runs in 4.1 innings. The Padres have tagged him for two home runs in 30 at-bats and have a .803 OPS against him. On the other side, Randy Vasquez is 2–4 with a 4.88 ERA. Vazquez was signed by the Padres after spending last season with the Yankees, posting a 2.87 ERA last year in 11 appearances. While his ERA is not the best, he has been a bit more consistent than Cecconi and pitched his best month in June with a 4.2 ERA. Aside from giving up six earned runs against the Phillies on June 17, he did very well in his other five starts in June.
The Padres offense has been one of the best teams against right-handed pitching over the last few weeks, as they are hitting .282 with just a 15.7% strikeout rate against righties over the last two weeks, which is third in the MLB. The Padres offense started the season slow, but they have really been ramping up as of late, and Randy Vazquez has been pitching better over the last month. With the Padres seeing Cecconi for a third time in three months, I think they will hit him pretty hard in this outing tonight. Take the Padres in this spot.
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres Pick
Pick: Padres ML -104 CLICK HERE TO SEE WHICH SPORTSBOOK HAS THE BEST ODDS
ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS VS. SAN DIEGO PADRES SYSTEM PROJECTIONS - JULY 5TH
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