While not the most marquee of match-ups, tonight’s meeting between Houston and San Diego does present a potentially nice wagering opportunity for baseball bettors. The game, which is scheduled to get underway at 10:05pm ET at Petco Park, features the hosting Padres as a -159 moneyline favorite. The latest MLB Odds have this evening’s game total set at six runs; the Over is drawing -120 odds.
While no one will mistake the Padres for an NL West contender any time soon, they have played some decent baseball since the All-Star break. San Diego is 4-2 coming out of the Mid-Summer Classic and they have an opportunity to record a fourth series win in their last five tries with a win tonight.
The Padres (38-55) won two out of three against the Dodgers in Los Angeles to open the season’s second half as their usually anemic offense posted 14 runs in the final two games of the series. They failed to carry that momentum into their series opener with the Astros, falling 0-2 to Houston on Monday night; however, they tallied eight runs on Tuesday and Wednesday to take a 2-1 series lead.
Toeing the rubber for San Diego in tonight’s finale is seven year veteran Edinson Volquez. Volquez brings a 5-7 record to the hill this evening, but his ERA is a solid 3.69 and he has amassed 104 strikeouts in 112.1 innings pitched. The Padres have also backed up Volquez of late, winning five of his last six starts while averaging 4.7 runs per game.
Houston, now 34-58 after last night’s loss, will counter Volquez with rookie right hander Lucas Harrell. Harrell, who is making his 19th start, owns a 4.43 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. The Astros have not had much success with Harrell on the mound, dropping four of his last five starts. The lone win in that stretch required a tremendous effort from Harrell as he limited tonight’s opponent, San Diego, to six hits and no earned runs in a 1-0 win over the Padres on June 27th.
The Astros are 3-7 in their last 10 meetings with the Padres; five of those seven losses came at Petco Park.
MLB Odds Betting Trend: The Astros are 1-14 in their last 15 games as a road dog.
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MLB Odds 2012 Houston Astros vs San Diego Padres: Provided by Bovada.lv
Houston Astros +1.5 (-165), Over 6 (-120), +144 (Moneyline)
San Diego Padres -1.5 (+145), Under 6 (+100), -159 (Moneyline)
