MLB Betting – Giants Take Slim Playoff Hopes to ‘Zona

San Francisco Giants (-113, 8 o/u) at Arizona Diamondbacks (+103)

The San Francisco Giants (72-67, 34-40 Away) closed August and started September on a seven-game losing streak, dropping them well back in the playoff race. But the defending World Series champs seem to some of their customary late-season mojo back, winning three of their last four. The Giants will wrap their three-game set with the Arizona Diamondbacks (66-73, 32-36 Home) tonight at Chase Field in Phoenix (9:40 PM Eastern).

The Giants and D-Backs split the first two games with Arizona taking game one 6-1 and San Fran rebounding with a 6-2 win last night. Veteran hurler Tim Hudson allowed just four hits and one run over six strong to get the win. But his heroics weren’t limited to the mound, as the 40-year-old went 2 for 3 at the plate, including a solo homer in the third inning.

“To hit a home run, a 40-year-old man, that’s quite a game,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy to the Associated Press. “He’s had a lot of wins and a lot of great games, to go out there and perform like that and have that kind of night with the bat is really impressive.”

San Francisco remains 8.5 games back of the NL West-leading Dodgers, however, and nine back of the Cubs for the second Wild Card spot. With just 23 games left in the season, the team’s hopes of returning to the postseason are all but extinguished. Their elimination number is now down to 16.

Making matters worse, righty Chris Heston (11-9, 3.54 ERA) is scheduled to get the start. Heston has decent numbers on the year, as a whole, but is 1-4 over his last seven starts with a 4.75 ERA and 1.61 WHIP.

The Diamondbacks will send another righty, Zack Godley (4-1, 3.62 ERA), to the hill. The 25-year-old has split time between the majors and triple-A this season, making just six appearances (four starts) for the big league club. He’s been decent, for the most part, but was hit hard by a streaking Cubs team last time out, getting pelted for six earned runs over 3.2 innings.

Arizona is currently seven games below .500 and has lost five of its last six. They’re 14.5-games back of LA in the NL West and eliminated from the playoff chase for all intents and purposes. The squad will spend the remainder of the year assessing young talent for the 2016 campaign.

Given that the Giants still have a glimmer of playoff hope, they should come out motivated. Even though Heston has been trending down lately, this is a start he can and needs to win. Taking the Giants looks like the play.

Pick: Giants -113.

(Photo credit: Buck (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)