Diamondbacks vs. Padres Prediction and Odds for Tuesday, Sept. 6 (Arizona Quietly Hottest Team in Baseball)
The Arizona Diamondbacks received seven innings of scoreless baseball from one of their top prospects, Ryne Nelson, in his Major League debut last night.
The strong performance lead to Arizona securing the 5-0 win over the San Diego Padres, and now the two teams will run it back again tonight for the second game in a three-game set.
All of a sudden, the Padres may need to start to worry. They have the Milwaukee Brewers in their rearview mirror for the final spot in the NL wild card race, currently holding a two-game lead. Losing a series to the lowly Diamondbacks would be a gut punch.
Let's take a look at the odds for tonight's showdown.
Diamondbacks vs. Padres Odds, Run Line, and Total
Run line:
- Diamondbacks +1.5 (-152)
- Padres -1.5 (+126)
Moneyline:
- Diamondbacks +142
- Padres -168
Total:
- 7.0 (Over -120/Under -102)
Diamondbacks vs. Padres Prediction and Pick
Arizona stole one with a rookie arm last night, and now they get to put out their ace in Merrill Kelly (2.84 ERA).
This will be Kelly's third start against the Padres this season. In the first two games, he allowed only one earned run across 10 combined innings, giving himself a 0.90 ERA in those starts. As a cherry on top, his ERA gets even better on the road this season. He has an 8-1 record and an ERA of 2.74 when away from the Diamondbacks home stadium.
That's bad news for Padres bettors, especially considering they'll be starting Joe Musgrove, who has a 4.37 ERA since the All-Star break. He allowed tow earned runs in six innings pitched in his only start against the Diamondbacks this season.
Arizona is quietly one of the hottest teams in baseball, going 8-2 in their last 10 games. I have no interest in fading them as underdogs with Kelly on the mound.
Pick: Diamondbacks +142
You can track Iain's bets on Betstamp here.