The Arizona Diamondbacks arrive in San Diego for a four-game weekend series with a tenuous 1.5-game lead over both the Colorado Rockies and the LA Dodgers for first place in the NL West. The Padres, 19 games back at this point, can only hope to act as the spoiler as they play out the string in 2018. Arizona has won seven of the last nine meetings in this matchup.
- Arizona is 8-0-1 SU on the five-inning ML in Clay Buchholz’s last nine starts.
- The Padres are 2-14 SU in their last 16 games at home.
- The total has gone OVER in the Diamondbacks’ last three games against the Padres with an average combined score of 10.0.
Diamondbacks vs Padres matchup page
Veteran vs Rookie Mound Matchup
Twelve-year MLB veteran Clay Buchholz (5-2, 2.67 ERA, 1.14 WHIP) has been outstanding in 2018, his first season with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is 3-1 in his four starts since the break, including a win over the Padres at Petco Park on July 29, his only outing against the Padres this year. Buchholz has been a great bet on the five-inning moneyline with Arizona going 8-0-1 SU in his last nine starts.
Jacob Nix (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) will make just his second MLB appearance tonight. Nix had a debut to remember last week against the Phillies, throwing six strong innings and allowing zero earned runs en route to a 2-0 San Diego win. The 22-year-old from Los Alamitos, California was drafted by the Padres in 2015 and made a steady progression through their minor league system, all but bypassing Triple-A (he made just one start in El Paso) in the process. He pitched 58.2 innings for a 1.84 ERA and 0.90 WHIP prior to his August recall to the big club.
Padres Can’t Win At Home
Home-field advantage is a mythical creature for the Padres as they’ve lost 14 of their last 16 games at Petco Park. Included in that streak is a three-game sweep by the D-backs in late July. During this stretch, the Padres are hitting .223 with just a .650 OPS as the home team and the pitching staff has a combined ERA of 4.85. Kansas City and Baltimore are the only teams in MLB with worse home records than San Diego. The Padres are the worst team at home in the NL at 22-40.
Where’s the Smart Totals Bet?
The total for tonight’s game in San Diego opened at 8.0 runs, which is lower than the average combined score of the last three games in this matchup (10.0). The OVER hit in each of those three games.
In addition, the total has gone OVER in seven of San Diego’s last 10 games at home vs teams with winning records and the total has gone OVER in five of Arizona’s last seven games with a closing total of 8.0 or less.
