Arizona Diamondbacks (56-49) vs. San Francisco Giants (57-48)
The 2023 MLB betting action goes on Monday, July 31, with the Arizona Diamondbacks taking on the San Francisco Giants in the NL West showdown at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, and the first pitch is set for 9:45 PM ET.
Arizona and San Francisco open a four-game series at Oracle Park. The Diamondbacks are 4-3 against the Giants this season. Arizona took three out of four games from the Giants in May, but the D-backs lost two out of three contests at Oracle Park in June.
Sunday’s games have been excluded from the analysis, and the 56-49 Arizona Diamondbacks hosted the Seattle Mariners to decide the winner of a three-game interleague set. After a 5-2 defeat in Friday’s opener, the Diamondbacks edged the Mariners 4-3 on Saturday night.
Arizona moved to 4-10 in the second half of the season following that victory over Seattle. The D-backs were third in the NL West on Sunday, trailing the San Francisco Giants by one game and the Los Angeles Angels by four. Over the last couple of weeks, the Diamondbacks are slashing a sturdy .264/.341/.460 with 24 doubles, eight triples, and 14 home runs across 417 at-bats, but their pitching staff has compiled a hideous 6.90 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, and .283 batting average against during that span.
Ryne Nelson will take the mound Monday, and the 25-year-old right-hander is 6-5 with an underwhelming 4.97 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, and 74/33 K/BB ratio in 21 starts (112.1 innings pitched) in 2023. Nelson, who’s been inconsistent all season, holds a 2-1 record in July, yielding 17 runs (16 earned) on 32 hits and five walks across 29 innings of work (five starts). Last Sunday, Nelson gave up five earned runs on eight hits and three walks across six innings in a no-decision against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Nelson meets the Giants for the third time this season. Back in May, he allowed four earned runs on seven hits through 4.2 innings of work but didn’t factor in the decision, as Arizona outlasted San Francisco 7-5 at home. Nelson held the Giants to one earned run on just three hits and two walks across seven innings, earning a win in a 5-2 victory at Oracle Park on June 25.