The San Diego Padres have to be happy to be playing any team other than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
After getting swept this weekend, they beat the Kansas City Royals last night, 4-0 and that ended a five-game losing streak. The Padres are 20-22 heading into Game 2 of this series against the 12-31 Royals. It’s a month and a half into the year and the Padres are in third in the NL West and seven games behind L.A.
The Padres need to keep piling up wins against KC and they’ll look to start the series 2-0 with Seth Lugo making his eighth start. Lugo is 3-2 with a 3.18 ERA. He will be opposed by 2-4 Brady Singer who comes in with a 7.71 ERA.
Let’s get into the odds for the Padres and the Royals in San Diego.
Royals vs. Padres odds, spread and total
Royals vs. Padres prediction and pick
Brady Singer had a strong season in 2022 with a 3.23 ERA in his age 25 season, but this year things have gone south dramatically.
Singer is in the first percentile of average exit velocity and hard hit rate, so he is getting pounded and has already allowed seven home runs.
He is also in the bottom 10% of pitchers in baseball in terms of expected ERA, expected batting average, and expected slugging. He’s given up four home runs on his sinker alone and has given up a .583 slugging percentage on that pitch.
Lefties have a .965 OPS against Singer and have accounted for four of the seven homers he’s given up. In May, Juan Soto has found his vintage form with a 1.141 OPS and 11 extra base hits, so I love Soto to hit a home run at +400.
The Royals are falling off offensively after a hot start to this month, now sixth in OPS and fifth in runs scored. Over the last seven days they have a .681 OPS which is 22nd over that stretch.
The Royals have lost four-straight and Seth Lugo will make sure it’s five in a row.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change