San Diego Padres (13-13) vs. Chicago Cubs (13-10)
April 27, 2023 2:20 pm EDT
The Line: Chicago Cubs +125 / San Diego Padres -161; Over/Under: -
(Get latest betting odds)
The San Diego Padres and the Chicago Cubs meet Thursday in MLB action from Wrigley Field. This will be the finale in a three-game series this week. The Cubs took a shutout win in the opener, then on Wednesday the Padres evened it up with a two-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
San Diego Padres
The Padres couldn’t get anything going on five team hits in the Tuesday opener of this series, ultimately falling 6-0. On Wednesday in game two San Diego posted nine hits in a 5-3 win. Starter Michael Wacha put up 5.0 innings with three earned on four hits and a walk.
Starter for the Thursday finale will be San Diego’s Seth Lugo. This year over four starts Lugo is 2-1 with a 2.78 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 22.2 innings. Lugo is 34-25 with a 3.44 ERA in his career over 279 games (42 starts).
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs had a great eighth inning in the opener of this set on Tuesday, posting four runs on the way to the shutout victory. On Wednesday Chicago had a 3-2 lead at one point but couldn’t score after the fifth. Drew Smyly put up 5.0 innings in the start with two earned on four hits and a walk.
For the starter job in the finale Chicago will turn to Hayden Wesneski. In his four starts so far Wesneski is 1-1 with a 6.23 ERA. He’s got 12 Ks in 17.1 innings. Wesneski is 4-3 with a 3.58 ERA in 10 career games (eight starts).
The Padres are 7-1 in the last eight in game three of a series and 1-9 in their last 10 Thursday games. The under is 4-1 in San Diego’s last five in game three of a series.
Meanwhile, the Cubs are 25-12 in their last 37 overall and 17-35 in their last 52 versus the NL West. The under is 5-0 in Chicago’s last five Thursday games.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to try the Padres here. I could go either way though, and we should have a good starter matchup regardless. Lugo has five earned over his last 9.2 innings on 14 hits and two walks. As for Wesneski, he’s got four earned on 10 hits and a walk over his last 11.1 innings of work across two starts. On Wednesday San Diego got a nice effort from the bullpen with four combined hits, no earned, one walk and three Ks. If the Padres can post another good offensive run here as well, I think they’ll cruise.
