San Francisco Giants (53-55) vs. San Diego Padres (61-49)
There is nothing like a heated rivalry series with playoff implications, and that is what will go on at Petco Park on Tuesday when the San Francisco Giants take on the San Diego Padres. This is the second contest of a three-game set between the clubs. They played on Monday, but this preview was written prior to the conclusion of that contest.
The Giants entered the series on a high note, sweeping the Oakland Athletics over the weekend. It has been rough going for San Francisco since the All-Star break, as they were 3-12 in their first 15 games. San Diego took it on the chin against the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend, swept in the three games, scoring only four runs total.
San Diego enters as the favori te at -195 with the odds set for the Giants at +160. When giving up 1.5 runs, the odds for the Padres change to +115 while San Francisco is at -135 when receiving 1.5 runs. The total is locked in at 7.5 (over: -110, under: -110).
The Giants were struggling after the All-Star break, but got a little healthier against Oakland over the weekend with their two-game sweep. That moved the Giants to 6.5 games behind San Diego for the final wildcard spot in the National League entering the series. Clearly, each game is critical for the Giants if they are going to make a postseason run.
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— SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 7, 2022
San Francisco will be looking to keep things going when they send right-hander Alex Cobb to the hill. Cobb is 3-6 with a 4.08 ERA in 17 starts. The right-hander had an abysmal May, posting a 6.04 ERA in six starts, but appears to have righted the ship. He spent much of the early part of June on the disabled list, then came off to post a 2.16 ERA in two starts. In July, he posted a 2.75 ERA in six starts. In his one August start, he gave up three runs in 6.1 innings to the Dodgers (August 3).
The offense has abandoned the Giants since the All-Star break, as the club scored 34 runs in their first 11 games following the break. August did not start off much better, as they scored 10 runs through the four-game series against the Dodgers, but came up with 13 runs against the open pitching staff over the weekend. San Francisco is averaging 4.66 runs per game, ninth overall.< /p>