The San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds play an early afternoon matchup on Saturday, July 1 with what could end up being a lopsided pitching matchup.
Michael Wacha (7-2, 2.90 ERA) gets the ball for the Padres against Reds rookie Brandon Williamson (1-1, 5.82 ERA). The Reds have gone 6-2 in Williamson's eight starts, but that's been due to their strong offensive output, not his pitching performance.
Cincy ended up winning the series opener on Friday behind Graham Ashcraft's best start in several weeks, but can it do that again on Saturday?
Here are the latest odds and my best bet for this matchup:
Padres vs. Reds odds, run line and total
Padres vs. Reds prediction and pick
After a couple rough outings to start the year, Wacha has really become one of the better arms on this San Diego staff.
Since May 2, Wacha has made nine starts, posting a 1.14 ERA in 55.1 innings pitched. That's a huge sample size of him being an effective pitcher, and I think that gives the Padres a huge advantage in this matchup.
Williamson has allowed at least three runs in every start since his debut, which should help a Padres team that has struggled all season long.
The Padres' offense may not be great, but Wacha has been and the team backs him up with the No. 3 bullpen ERA in all of baseball.
I'll lay the juice with the Padres on Saturday.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
