It will be a California battle of NL West teams on Tuesday as the San Francisco Giants square off with the San Diego Padres. The Padres will host this one at Petco Park, with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 pm ET.
This will be the second game of a three-game set. After going 1-2 in their first series, the Giants hope to have success in San Diego. The Padres, meanwhile, went 3-1 in their first series and would love to stay hot as they look to take down the Dodgers in the division this year.
On Tuesday, the pitching matchup features Aaron Sanchez making his debut for the Giants going against Yu Darvish (0-0, 7.71 ERA) of the Padres.
San Diego is the favorite playing at home. They are -210 to win while the Giants’ moneyline is +180. The runline features San Francisco +1.5, and the over/under for total runs is 7.5.
By The Numbers
Although early in the season, the San Diego Padres hold the advantage in terms of runs per game. They rank 12th in MLB, averaging five runs per game. The Giants rank 17th averaging 4.33.
Defensively, it is once again the Padres who hold the advantage. They rank 9th, allowing opponents an average of three runs per game. San Francisco ranks 17th, allowing five runs per game.
Giants Turn To Sanchez
The San Francisco Giants will turn to Sanchez on Tuesday, a starter who has not taken the mound since the 2019 season. Sanchez missed last season due to a shoulder injury, but in 2019, he went 5-14 with a 5.89 ERA in time with the Blue Jays and Astros. This spring, he went 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA.
Offensively, Evan Longoria has gotten off to a nice start this season. On Monday, he hit his third home run of the season and is also hitting .357/.438/1.000 with five runs batted in.
Another veteran has performed well as Buster Posey has two home runs in the early part of the season. After opting out of last season due to COVID concerns, Posey is reclaiming his spot as one of the elder statesmen on the Giants.
Padres Without Star Shortstop
In Monday’s game, the Padres may have lost one of their best players as shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. left the game after taking a violent swing and coming up holding his arm. Tatis had to miss time in spring training due to a shoulder injury, so another injury this early in the season is concerning.
While Tatis will likely be out for Tuesday’s game, they still have plenty of offense to take care of business. With players like Manny Machado, Eric Hosmer, Wil Myers, Jake Cronenworth, and others on the team, the Padres can still put up runs in a hurry. In fact, Hosmer was named the NL Player of the Week for the opening week.
San Diego will be looking for a bounce back from one of their big acquisitions over the offseason in Darvish. In his first start, Darvish went 4.2 innings allowing eight hits, four earned runs, and striking out six in the 8-7 win over the Diamondbacks. One area of concern for Darvish in the opener is that he gave up a couple of long balls.
Still, Darvish has ace quality stuff, and it would not be surprising to see him have a nice outing Tuesday.
Look for Darvish to Bounce Back
The saying goes that you are only as good as your next day’s starter. For Tuesday’s game, that gives the advantage to San Diego. Even though Darvish struggled in his first outing, he is a legitimate ace that should bounce back.
There is less confidence for Sanchez to start off strong. Not only has he not pitched since 2019, but he wasn’t exactly sharp in spring training.
For my money, I am taking San Diego at -210.
