MLB Betting Preview: San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants

The National League West rival San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants face off for the first time this season on Monday night from Oracle Park. The Giants are favored on the MLB odds.

How to Bet San Diego at San Francisco MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 9:45 PM ET
Where: Oracle Park
Probable pitchers (away/home): Nick Martinez/Alex Wood
TV: MLB Extra Innings
Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
Opening MLB Lines: Giants -130, Padres +120 (total 8.5)

Why Bet on San Diego?

The Padres lost their season opener in Arizona on a walk-off homer but won the final three games of the series. They were 10-5 winners Sunday. While warming up for his first start of the season lefty Blake Snell started feeling discomfort in his hip adductor, the same thing that knocked him out of his final start of 2021. He was an extremely late scratch, replaced by long reliever Nabil Crismatt.

Jurickson Profar had a grand slam for a 4-0 lead. A year ago Profar hit four home runs in 137 games. He’s already got two in three games in 2022. For the second time in franchise history the Padres have started the season 3-1 in four consecutive years. The last time was 1995-1998 and the Padres made the World Series in that fourth season in 1998.

Of course, the Padres remain without their best player in star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis underwent surgery to address a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist on March 16, an operation that requires a recovery period of “up to three months,” according to Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller. Tatis was with the club for its season-opening series in Arizona and said he expects to resume swinging in approximately three weeks. Once he clears that hurdle, Tatis said he’d have a better idea of a target return date.

It’s Nick Martinez on the mound here. An 18th-round pick in 2011, Martinez and his 4.77 ERA had been optioned 13 times when the Rangers non-tendered him in December 2017. Rather than accepting a minor league deal, Martinez signed a one-year, $1.8 million deal with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Mike Clevinger’s (knee) placement on the injured list coupled with last Thursday’s trade that sent Chris Paddack to Minnesota cleared the way for Martinez to open the season as the Padres’ No. 5 starter. The 31-year-old owns a 4.77 ERA across 415.1 career innings in the majors from 2014 through 2017, but he looked like a different pitcher while spending the subsequent four seasons in Japan. During his time overseas, the right-hander gained a few ticks of velocity on his fastball, showed an improved four-pitch mix and made major gains in limiting walks.

Martinez pitched for Team USA in the Olympics last year. Martinez allowed two runs on nine hits and a walk while striking out 16 batters. He allowed one run in six innings in the loss to Japan in the gold medal game.

Why Bet on San Francisco?

The Giants took two of three over the weekend at home vs. Miami, capturing the finale 3-2 on Sunday. Before the game, the team put reliever John Brebbia on the bereavement list to make room on the roster for outfielder Heliot Ramos. The 31-year-old right-hander has made two appearances over the opening weekend, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Giants got an immediate infusion of energy Sunday from Ramos, who singled in his first at-bat and scored the game-tying run a few moments later. Ramos had two hits in his MLB debut and went the distance in left field. Ramos was the Giants first-round pick (19th overall) in the 2017 draft and began this season in Triple-A Sacramento. In four games for the River Cats, he went 3-for-13 with one double, one homer, four RBI, four walks and four strikeouts. This spring he was 4-for-8 with two doubles in five games. He entered the season as the Giants’ third-best prospect and 94th-best overall prospect in the minors according to Baseball America…in 116 games between Double-A Richmond and Sacramento last year, Ramos hit .254 with 14 homers, 56 RBI and a .739 OPS.

Manager Gabe Kapler was without relievers Camilo Doval and Jake McGee on Sunday after both pitched in the first two games, but that didn’t matter. Tyler Rogers had a scoreless eighth and Dominic Leone struck out two while getting the save.

Lefty Alex Wood is on the mound Monday. He signed a two-year, $25 million extension in December. Last year, he worked to a 3.83 ERA across 138 2/3 innings and 26 starts, taking on his heaviest workload since 2018. Wood posted a 3.48 FIP and a 3.60 SIERA that are both a fair bit better than his bottom line numbers. He struck out 26% of batters faced in 2021, a mark that’s more than three points north of the league average. That came on the strength of an above-average 12.5% swinging strike rate, with Wood generating plenty of whiffs on both his sinker and slider.

Wood allowed four runs on four hits over 1 2/3 innings in his final Cactus League start vs. Oakland. The four runs to score against him came courtesy of two-run hits by Elvis Andrus and Chad Pinder in the second inning. Wood did pitch well otherwise this spring.