Padres -173(-173)
The Cubs will try to even things up after getting walloped in the first of a three-game set with the Padres on Monday night. Let’s analyze this Tuesday night series sandwich game and keep cashing our MLB picks.
Tuesday, June 8, 2021 – 10:10 PM EDT at PETCO Park
After getting spanked, 9-4, in the first game of this three-game series in San Diego, the Cubs have now lost three of their last four and relinquished their top spot in the NL Central to the white-hot Brewers. The Cubs had swept the Padres in a three-game set at Wrigley Field just last week but a nagging blister unraveled Chicago’s Monday night starter, Adbert Alzolay.
"In the second inning is when I started feeling it the most. The sinker and hard slider — those were the two pitches when I felt it the most," Alzolay said. "Everything else is feeling good — my body and arm. It was the blister that got me."
"He has been dealing with it for a little while now. Hopefully, we will know more tomorrow," said David Ross, Chicago’s athletic trainer. "We took him out. ... It was something I didn’t want him to push through and make worse."
When the dust settled, Alzolay had worked only three-plus innings and was tagged for four runs on five hits and five walks. Chicago would close the gap to 4-3 before San Diego drew away to the five-run victory. Anthony Rizzo and Jake Marisnick each went two-for-four while center fielder, Ian Happ, deposited a 402-foot solo shot into the stands in the seventh inning.
It is only early June but many believed the defending World Series champion LA Dodgers would have already taken their rightful spot atop the NL West and remained there for the duration of the season. After all, they posted a gaudy .717-win percentage in the truncated 2020 season and it was almost a foregone conclusion they would lay waste to the division again from box to wire.
However, the standings on June 8th tell a different tale. The San Francisco Giants, third-place finishers last season, have a tenuous grasp on first place while the Padres sit just a half-game removed. And then we see the Dodgers nestled in third but only three games behind the Giants and it feels like watching a horse race where the even-money favorite is stalking the pace and taking his time before ultimately kicking it in and cruising by the rest of the field down the stretch.
The NL West is indeed a three-horse race with the Rockies and Diamondbacks trailing helplessly already. But the Padres are the team most likely to unseat Los Angeles as divisional champs but in order to do that, they have to begin beating the better teams just as they did last night with their victory over Chicago.
Entering tonight’s contest, the Padres rank sixth in runs scored and fourth in run differential with a +75, tied with the Giants, and trailing the second-ranked Dodgers in that category. The Padres also rank third in runs allowed which illustrates this is a team with a potent offense and a deep pitching staff, and one that could threaten the balance of power in the National League.
The Cubs will send Zach Davies (2-3, 4.94 ERA, 1.67 WHIP) to the hill tonight while San Diego counters with Dinelson Lamet (1-0, 2.50 ERA, 1.44 WHIP). Davies was touched for four runs on eight hits in four-plus innings in his last start which resulted in a 7-2 loss to the Giants on Thursday of last week.
On the flip side, Dinelson Lamet went four full innings and tossed 72 pitches, allowing one run on four hits last Wednesday in what was his longest outing of the season in a 6-1 loss to San Francisco. Lamet has been moved along slowly this season after elbow discomfort removed him from the postseason and forced an extended spring training before he got rolling.
The Padres offense is clicking and they will feast on Davies tonight while their pitcher, Dinelson Lamet, is slowly winding into a bona fide starter for the Padres. The MLB odds at all of the best online sportsbooks are dealing San Diego as ranging between -173 and -185 home chalk tonight. And although that’s a bitter pill, it is one worth swallowing if you want to cash a winner tonight.
MLB Pick: Padres -173 at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)