Friday Night MLB Betting Prediction on Arizona at San Diego

Posted by Michael Hunt on Thursday,May 18, 2017 10:29, EDT in

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The Arizona Diamondbacks start a quick three-game road trip to NL West rival San Diego on Friday night. It’s already the third series of the young season between the teams. The Diamondbacks just finished a 3 game series against the New York Mets, sweeping them in every single game. For the Padres, they’re currently are in a 4 game series against the Milwaukee Brewers which end tonight. They currently are losing that series at 1-2. The Snakes will be favored on MLB odds for Game 1 as the Friars start maybe the worst pitcher in baseball.

Friday Night MLB Betting Prediction on Arizona at San Diego

“That @Dbacks bullpen has been nails this year.” pic.twitter.com/HLrXEVFYEh

— FOX Sports Arizona (@FOXSPORTSAZ) May 18, 2017

When: Friday, May 19, 10:10 PM ET
Where: Petco Park, San Diego
Probable pitchers (away/home): Taijuan Walker/Jered Weaver
TV: MLB Extra Innings
Stream: MLB.tv
Radio: Arizona / San Diego
Opening MLB Lines: Diamondbacks favored by TBA

Why Bet On Arizona?

The Diamondbacks are 1-2 in San Diego this year. They won there 11-2 on April 18 as Shelby Miller pitched well – he’s now out for the season following Tommy John surgery – and Yasmany Tomas had a three-run homer. The game got so out of hand that 33-year-old Padres shortstop Erick Aybar made his big league pitching debut in the eighth.

Arizona placed one of its best players, center fielder A.J. Pollock, on the DL earlier this week. Pollock has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 right groin strain. It’s the least severe strain and not as serious as the left groin strain Pollock dealt with last season. However, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo noted that the team will be careful with their star outfielder, so this figures to be longer than a minimum DL stint.

Pollock was hurt running out a base hit in the 10th inning of Sunday’s 6-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He said this injury feels “very similar” to the one he had in the other groin a year ago. That ended his season three weeks early. Pollock has appeared in 37 games this season, batting .299 with 12 doubles, three triples and two home runs. He has 11 stolen bases and 11 RBIs while quality defense at a premium up-the-middle position. Lovullo said Reymond Fuentes will share center-field duties with Gregor Blanco.

It’s Taijuan Walker (3-3, 3.91) on the mound here. Last time out, he lost to the Pirates, giving up four runs (three earned) on eight hits and three walks. He struck out three batters. In the top of the fourth, with a runner on and no outs, Walker took a skipping groundball off his upper ankle and seemed to be in some considerable pain. After getting checked out by Lovullo and the medical staff, he remained in the game but walked the next batter, Josh Bell. Pitching coach Mike Butcher came out to try and get Walker to slow things down, but he never really seemed to get into a decent rhythm after that.

Since covering eight innings and striking out a season-high 11 batters in his April 27 start against the Padres, Walker has fallen back to earth with underwhelming showings in his last three outings. He’s covered 16.1 innings over that stretch and has submitted a 3.86 ERA, 1.71 WHIP and 10:8 K:BB ratio. Walker was not helped by his defense in his last two starts. He’s allowed seven runs over those outings and only four of them were earned.

Why Bet On San Diego?

The Padres have taken their expected spot in last place in the NL West. The Padres have a potentially good trade chip in Cory Spangenberg because he can play almost anywhere. Largely he has played second, third and left in 2017.

“Right now, I don’t have a problem with [moving him around] at all,” Manager Andy Green said. “Those pieces are incredibly valuable. … Guys that come off the bench — and I wouldn’t say he’s coming off the bench, because he’s playing way more than he’s sitting — but with those types of guys, you usually lose a little bit offensively. You don’t lose anything offensively with him.”

Of the three positions, it’s likely Spangenberg sees the least time at second base going forward, as the Padres are committed to Yangervis Solarte. But left field has been wide open since Travis Jankowski went down with a right foot fracture, and Ryan Schimpf has struggled lately at third base.

This might be the last start for San Diego’s Jered Weaver (0-4) with how bad he’s been. He actually pitched well in a no-decision against the White Sox on Sunday, allowing one run on five hits and a pair of walks over six strong innings. Weaver fanned three on the afternoon. He left in line for his first victory of the season, but the Padres’ bullpen was unable to hold on for him. Even with this strong outing, he still sports an abysmal 6.05 ERA and 1.34 WHIP on the season. The Padres dropped to 0-8 in games Weaver has started, though, in some, he deserved better.

Weaver had been coming off a trio of disastrous starts. After the most recent cameo, a three-inning, seven-run dud, the team’s executive chairman, Ron Fowler, had spoken of a “short leash” in a radio interview. Weaver himself had acknowledged that, if his struggles continued, he might find himself sitting on a couch.