The New York Mets officially embark on a long 11-game road trip tonight, when they go head-to-head for the first time with the San Diego Padres. This game will be the first meeting of a four-game set at Petco Park. Which club can deliver the first blow?
Read on below for a comprehensive look at this enticing National League showdown. And for more baseball action, checkout our other previews of: Red Sox vs. White Sox and Yankees vs. Orioles.
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New York Mets vs. San Diego Padres Betting Preview
Where: Petco Park, San Diego, CA
When: Thursday, May 5, 2016, 10:10 PM ET
Line: New York Mets (-185) vs. San Diego Padres (+165); total: 6.5 – view all MLB lines
TV Broadcast(s): SNY, FSSD
Betting on the New York Mets (17-9)
deGrom heads into Petco Park coming off a solid performance in his previous start against the Giants on April 30. During that game, the 27-year-old righty scattered two hits and three runs (all unearned) across six innings of work.
Moreover, deGrom will look to continue dominating the Padres. He’s only faced them once in his entire career, and the results were pretty spectacular in that particular game. deGrom registered eight strikeouts throughout eight shutout innings to give the Mets the resounding victory. Don’t be surprised if he puts on another show later.
Over on offense, the spotlight’s been mostly on the pair of Yoenis Cespedes and Lucas Duda. Both should be able to provide the Mets some timely runs at the plate.
Cespedes is only 6-of-23 (.260) in his last six games, but leads the team in RBIs (25) thus far this season. He also just had a brilliant performance in the win over San Francisco on April 29. Cespedes set a club mark with six RBIs in the third frame during that game.
Duda, meanwhile, has been very consistent in the past three games. He’s gone 3-of-10 with three homers and four RBIs during that span. Duda also holds a career triple-slash line of .315/.413/.629 against San Diego.
New York is 8-2 SU in its last 10 road games.
Betting on the San Diego Padres (11-17)
As for the Padres, they’ll be hoping to get back on the winning track for this game. They’re coming off a 2-0 loss to the Rockies last night, and all eyes will be on Colin Rea, who gets the start tonight versus New York, to help San Diego bounce back.
Rea has had a pretty rough start to the season. He’s 2-1 with a 4.61 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in three starts. But it’s worth noting that the 25-year-old right-hander has been gradually finding his form. Rea picked up his second win of the year and yielded just two runs (both earned) in last Saturday’s matchup with the Dodgers.
In the case that Rea ends up struggling on the mound, the pressure is definitely on San Diego’s offense to have his back. That said, the pair of Wil Myers and Matt Kemp have got to light up the plate.
Myers currently leads the team in batting (.304) and in hits (34). He’s also gone 7-of-19 in the previous five games. Kemp, meanwhile, will be looking to extend his hitting streak to eight games. However, he is only batting .269 at home this season. Kemp’s also just a .250 lifetime hitter against Mets’ starter Jacob deGrom.
San Diego is 5-5 SU in its previous 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
Mets (-185) win it, 6-1.
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