MLB Betting – MadBum’s Giants Visit Padres

San Francisco Giants (-200, 7.5 o/u) at San Diego Padres (+170)

The last time Madison Bumgarner took the mound, he threw a complete game one-hitter against the Arizona Diamondbacks, continuing his Cy Young caliber season. Has the All-Star break interrupted his rhythm? We’ll find out tonight when he and the San Francisco Giants (57-33, 28-16 Away) visit the San Diego Padres (38-51, 20-25 Home) at Petco Park tonight (10:40 PM Eastern).

San Francisco swept Arizona before the All-Star break and has won six of the last seven games to stretch its lead atop the NL West to 6.5 games over the Dodgers. Bumgarner’s magical night against the Diamondbacks saw him face just 29 batters, giving up the lone hit plus one walk while striking out 14.

“We’re in the business of winning around here,” said Giants manager Bruce Bochy to MLB.com. No argument here. Bochy’s Giants entered the All-Star break with the best record in the majors and have won four straight overall. If history is any indication, that will stretch to five tonight; Bumgarner has won nine straight decisions against the Padres and San Francisco has won the last six in the series.

The Padres are 18.5 games behind their division rivals in the NL West. They dropped three straight to the Dodgers before the hiatus. Andrew Cashner (3-7, 5.40 ERA in 13 starts) will take the bump against Bumgarner. Cashner has dropped his last two, including a brief outing against the Dodgers he would like to forget, going just 2.2 innings, giving up eight hits and eight runs in a 10-6 loss.

There’s not much value on the Giants with Bumgarner starting, but he’s dominated the Padres and San Diego isn’t really any better at home than on the road. If you’re going to bet this one, the favorite is the play.

Pick: Giants (-200).

(Photo Credit: SD Dirk (Flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/])