San Francisco Giants (53-55) vs. San Diego Padres (61-49)
It is a bitter rivalry renewed in the National League West on Monday when the San Francisco Giants take on the San Diego Padres. This is a contest that pits the second and third place teams in the division with San Diego holding the final wildcard spot in the NL while the Giants are 7.0 games behind San Diego.
These teams have split the last 10 meetings, including splitting a four-game set in San Diego (July 7-10). Over the weekend, San Francisco swept a two-game series against the Oakland Athletics. This came after being swept in a four-game set by the Los Angeles Dodgers early last week. San Diego lost the first two games of their series with the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend, with Sunday night’s game not concluded by the time this preview was writ ten.
The Padres enter as the favorites at -175 with the line set for San Francisco at +145. The spread puts San Diego at +125 when giving up 1.5 runs with the Giants set at -145 when receiving 1.5 runs. The total is set at 8.0 (over: minus -105, under: -115).
After dropping the four-game set against the Dodgers last week, San Francisco was struggling coming out of the All-Star break, going 3-12 through the first 15 games. That included dropping eight games to the Dodgers and three to Arizona, but they outscored the Athletics 13-7 in the two-game set, moving them 7.0 games behind San Diego in the NL wildcard standings.
Yazterclass ?? pic.twitter.com/Qg8b83cicJ
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 7, 2022
San Francisco starts left-hander Alex Wood, who is 7-9 with a 4.42 ERA in 21 starts. He had struggled in May and June, posting ERAs over 5.00 in both months, but pitched extremely well in July, posting a 1.65 ERA in five starts. He was rocked by the Dodgers in his last outing, giving up six runs in 5.1 innings. In his last outing against the Padres, Wood tossed seven shutout innings (July 10).
The offense for the Giants has been solid, ninth at 4.66 runs per game. It has been the long ball leading this club, as they are ninth in homeruns with 127. However, the club is only hitting .234 with a .318 on-base percentage. The Giants have not hit well on the road either, posting a .230 batting average, 24th overall. Joc Pederson leads the club was 17 homeruns.