Diamondbacks vs. Padres MLB Preview and Best Bet

Games like the one on Friday’s baseball betting card against the Arizona Diamondbacks are games the San Diego Padres have to win if they’re going to make a run for the NL West crown.

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. San Diego Padres

Friday, August 06, 2021 – 10:10 PM EDT at Petco Park

Arizona begins the weekend deeper into its division cellar than any other team, the Diamondbacks a whopping 35½-games behind San Francisco in the NL West. San Diego is 7½ behind the Giants, but that gap might look bigger to the Padres and their fans with the Los Angeles Dodgers also between them and San Francisco.

Several of the top online betting sites sent the Padres out big with a moneyline around -220 on rookie southpaw Ryan Weathers (4-3, 3.65). That has since been toned down to as low as -185 following overnight wagers. The Diamondbacks send out their own lefty, Caleb Smith (3-8, 5.04), and the scoreboard target is 8½-9.

Snakes Last in NL With 5.35 Staff Era

Arizona’s tumble the past few seasons might make for a good Unsolved Mysteries episode. Watching the Diamondbacks this year, it’s easy to forget this was a team that was in the playoffs four seasons ago and still contending for an NL wild card only two years ago.

Quality starts have been few and far between for Caleb Smith, who has just three among his 12 assignments. The former 14th-round pick out of Sam Houston State is coming off one of the uglier ones, a 13-0 beating at home to the Dodgers with the Diamondbacks +130 underdogs on the MLB betting odds. Smith couldn’t make it through the second having allowed five runs and an equal number of free passes. At least that was an improvement from when he faced them in Los Angeles last month, Smith giving up nine runs and three homers before he could record an out in the second.

Smith made his 2021 season debut in a start at San Diego in April, charged with four runs – three earned – in three frames to suffer the loss. His next appearance against the Padres was a scoreless inning of relief later that month. Smith has made three career starts at Petco Park, going 1-2 with a 3.60 ERA (15 IP).

Bats optional when facing @CalebASmith12. pic.twitter.com/wG882XCxVd

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) March 19, 2021

Pads’ Next Four Series vs. Teams With Combined .393 Win Pct

San Diego might be in a bit of a rut with a 4-6 record the last 10, but the Padres should be pulling into a favorable stretch on the schedule beginning with this series against Arizona. Miami follows the Diamondbacks into town, and the Padres then take off on a road trip through Phoenix and Denver, giving them a great chance to close on the Giants and Dodgers the next two weeks.

Colorado mashed against Weathers last Friday, the young Tennessean charged with eight runs in four innings of a 9-4 loss as -198 chalk at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review). The Rockies popped three homers among their eight hits, and the result was the 2.73 ERA Weathers entered the game with rising nearly a full run to 3.65. The setback left the Padres 1-4 in his five July assignments, Weathers pitching to a 6.52 ERA for the month.

Weathers has faced the Diamondbacks twice this season, one of those out of the bullpen in the April start Smith made against the Padres. The other outing was in a starting role later in April at Chase Field, but Weathers was forced from the game after just one inning with soreness in his left arm. He will be facing many in the Arizona lineup for the first time.

Friars Seeking Sixth-Straight Series Win in Rivalry

Friday’s lid-lifter is the first of 10 games the Diamondbacks and Padres play against one another over the next four weeks, and the last series of the campaign at Petco Park. San Diego has won six of the nine matchups in 2021, taking five of the seven on its home diamond. A June series at Petco Park saw all three games go ‘over’ the totals after 11 of the previous 16 in San Diego were ‘under’ winners. The clubs collide again next weekend on Phoenix, then finish up their season series at Chase Field at the end of August.

It's almost impossible to muster up any reason to play the Diamondbacks on the road, but equally difficult to lay so much chalk on Weathers who has delivered just six wins for the Padres in his 13 starts. Let’s get behind the bats with a free MLB pick on the ‘over.’

Free MLB Pick: Over 9 (+102) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)

Over 9(+102)

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*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.

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