The Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres meet Saturday in MLB action at Petco Park. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.

Washington Nationals Betting Preview

The Washington Nationals have scored 9 runs in their last 3 games and 3 or fewer runs in 4 straight games. The Nationals have lost 10 of their last 11 games when scoring 3 or fewer runs. Lane Thomas leads the Nationals with 84 hits and 37 RBI, while Joey Meneses and Luis Garcia have combined for 156 hits and 69 RBI. Josiah Gray gets the ball, and he is 4-6 with a 3.64 ERA and 72 strikeouts this season. This will be Gray’s second career game against the Padres.

San Diego Padres Betting Preview

The San Diego Padres have scored 25 runs in their last 3 games and 4 or more runs in 8 of their last 12 games. The Padres have won 10 of their last 13 games when scoring 4 or more runs. Juan Soto leads the Padres with 71 hits and 40 RBI, while Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. have combined for 135 hits and 62 RBI. Matt Waldron will make his major league debut when he takes the mound tonight. Waldron was 13-24 with a 5.32 ERA and 331 strikeouts in his minor league career.

Trends

The Nationals are 19-45 in their last 64 Saturday games and 0-7 in their last 7 during game 2 of a series. The Padres are 5-1 in their last 6 during game 2 of a series and 5-2 in their last 7 home games. The under is 5-1 in Nationals last 6 Saturday games. The under is 19-7-1 in Padres last 27 home games. The Nationals are 1-4 in the last 5 meetings.

Randy’s Pick

I usually don’t like backing pitching making their big league debut, but Matt Waldron is at least at home where that should settle the nerves, and he’s a knuckleballer which isn’t something you see every day. The Washington Nationals can’t score runs as it is and now have to deal with this awkward, hard to make contract pitch. Give me the Padres and the RL for max betting value.