The San Diego Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks meet Saturday in MLB action from Chase Field. This will be the third installment in a four-game weekend series. On Opening Day Thursday, the Diamondbacks powered out a two-run victory. In game two Friday, San Diego evened it up with a shutout win. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
San Diego had an early 2-0 lead by the fourth inning in the Thursday opener. The Padres had the game won before coughing up a walk-off blast to Seth Beer in a 4-2 defeat. Starter Yu Darvish had a solid outing however, going 6.0 innings with no hits, no earned, four walks and three Ks. On Friday, San Diego posted 11 hits on the way to a 3-0 victory.
For the Saturday matchup, the Padres will send out Joe Musgrove in the start. Musgrove managed 32 games (31 starts) last season with an 11-9 record and a 3.18 ERA. He struck out 203 batters in 181.1 innings as well. Musgrove has a 40-47 career mark with a 4.02 ERA, so he had a good campaign in 2021.
Over on the Arizona side, they posted just three hits on Thursday but still found a way to get the big comeback win. Beer finished with three RBI on two hits, but Madison Bumgarner lasted just 3.0 innings with one earned on four walks and a hit. Pavin Smith had the other team hit alongside a pair of walks. In Friday’s game Arizona could only muster two team hits. Starter Merrill Kelly went 4.0 innings with no earned on four hits and two walks.
It’ll be Zach Davies’ turn in the rotation on Saturday for the Diamondbacks. Davies managed a 6-12 record in 2021 over 32 starts. He put up a 5.78 ERA with 114 Ks in 148.0 innings. That’s not as good as Davies’ career 4.14 ERA and 56-48 record however, so he’ll be looking for a bounce-back in 2022.
The Padres are 18-39 in their last 57 road games and 16-37 in their last 53 overall. San Diego is 5-16 in their last 21 in game three of a series.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are 5-11 in the last 16 at home and 38-97 in their last 135 overall. Arizona is 9-23 in their last 32 Saturday games.
PICK: I’m probably going to try the Padres here. Musgrove has lowered his ERA in each of the last two years since a 4.44 mark back in 2019. He had a 3.86 ERA for Pittsburgh in 2020 and a 3.18 number last season with the Padres. I like Musgrove to post another season above .500 in the record books this year, along with an ERA in the mid-threes somewhere. He should be pretty decent. As for Davies, he needs to get off to a good start after a sub-par 2021 and I think he’ll be solid in this debut. Feels more like a Padres win, though.