The Philadelphia Phillies and the San Diego Padres meet Monday in MLB action from Petco Park. The Phillies just finished up a weekend series versus the Brewers, losing the first two games. On Sunday in the finale Philly powered out a two-run win to prevent the sweep. As for the Padres, they’re coming off a set against the Giants. San Diego bagged wins in two of the first three games, and on Sunday the Padres ended up winning in a shutout. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.

Philadelphia Phillies 

The Phillies lost to the Brewers 7-5 in their Friday game one, then fell 7-5 again in game two. Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and JT Realmuto each had homers on Saturday. In the finale the Phillies finally found some traction in the seventh inning with three runs and won 4-2. Both Realmuto and Alec Bohm each had a home run. 

As starter for Monday’s game it’ll be Taijuan Walker. So far across his 26 starts Walker is 14-5 with a 4.05 ERA and 119 strikeouts over 142.1 innings. Walker is 3-2 with a 4.39 ERA in his last seven starts. 

Philadelphia Phillies Team Facts

• The underdogs have won six of the Phillies’ last seven games at Petco Park.
• The Phillies have failed to cover the run line in eight of their last nine day games against NL West opponents following a win.
• The Phillies have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last eight games against NL West opponents that held a losing record.
• The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Phillies’ last five games as favorites against NL West opponents.
• The Phillies have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last five games as favorites.

San Diego Padres

Over on the Padres’ side, they took a 7-2 loss to the Giants back on Thursday, but came back with wins 7-3 and 6-1 in the next pair. San Diego’s Garrett Cooper had a three-run homer in game three. On Sunday the Padres scored three in the first inning and cruised to a win 4-0. Both Juan Soto (two RBI) and Manny Machado (two runs) had homers in the victory. 

In the starting pitcher role Monday, San Diego will send out Rich Hill. This year Hill is 7-13 with a 5.26 ERA in 27 games (26 starts). Hill is 0-3 over his last five games (four starts) with an 8.50 ERA across 18.0 frames. 

San Diego Padres Team Facts

• The Padres have lost each of their last six home games against the Phillies following a home win.
• The Padres have failed to cover the run line in each of their last six home games against the Phillies following a win.
• The ‘Inning 1 OVER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in each of the Padres’ last six day games.
• The Padres have won the first inning in three of their last four games as underdogs against the Phillies.
• The Padres have led after 5 innings in each of their last five day games against NL East opponents that held a winning record.

Matchup/League Facts

• The San Diego Padres ranks 2nd in the league for walks this season (550).
• The San Diego Padres ranks 4th in the league for ERA this season (3.79).
• The Philadelphia Phillies are one of only 3 teams in the league to rank top 10 in both steals and batting average this season.
• The Philadelphia Phillies ranks T4th in the league for triples this season (25).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’m going to take a stab on the Phillies here, but I’m probably not going near it. Walker has been a bit of a mixed bag lately but he’s got the capability to post a nice start as well. In his last trio, Walker is 1-1 with eight earned runs over 15.2 total innings. If he can get through five frames or so without too much damage Philly should be in solid shape down the stretch. On Sunday the Phillies got quite a bit of offense out of six team hits, and the pitching staff was pretty darn solid between six different guys. Philly had given up four or more runs in five straight games prior to that, so they’ll need to keep it up on defense in order to pull out a win in this opener.