San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 5/20/2022

Time: 10:15 p.m. ET

Venue: Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA

Where to watch: Bally Sports San Diego, NBC Sports Bay Area

DraftKings: Padres -115, Giants -105

BetMGM: NL

Caesars: NL

Padres: 23-14

Giants: 22-15

How about the San Diego Padres playing good baseball? Maybe they should trade Fernando Tatis Jr. because he's horrible for locker room chemistry, right? I kid, sort of.

But seriously, the Padres have been incredible and Manny Machado has been looking like an NL MVP candidate at the moment by leading San Diego in every category except RBI -- he trails Eric Hosmer by one in that category.

While the Padres are two games back of the NL West lead held by the Los Angeles Dodgers, they're getting complete efforts (finally) from their pitching rotation and the guys swinging the bats. Wednesday was a bit of an outlier with the Padres losing 3-0, but they got a strong performance from Zack Wheeler for the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Feels good to be back with the boys,” Padres starter Blake Snell said in his return, throwing 3.2 innings and 84 pitches. “I’ve been watching for a month and a half now. You want to be a part of it, especially with how special this team is. So that felt good. Stuff-wise, it was really good, I’m happy with that. Just the walks killed me.”

Snell had missed nearly a month with a groin injury, and if he's back to throwing well, it's going to be a great experience for the Padres. The rotation that the Padres invested so much money in is working out so far. Joe Musgrove is still undefeated, Yu Darvish has looked great (and he'll get the call Thursday against the Phillies) and now that Snell is back, things should be looking up for the Padres.

“It’s just the competitive nature, I think,” said Padres acting manager Ryan Christenson. “These guys were part of the rotation. We got a couple of guys healthy and coming back, and they want to stay here, they want to be a contributing force.

The San Francisco Giants had won 12 in a row against the Colorado Rockies, if you can believe it, before Wednesday's 5-3 loss. If the Giants are looking for some sort of solace in that loss, Logan Webb did his part. Which shows that the bullpen is the issue for the Giants, but alas, we are here.

Webb, who leads the Giants with a 5-1 record, went seven innings and struck out six in a start that went all the way to the eighth inning. He took a 3-2 lead into the late frame, but gave up a leadoff single and the Giants bullpen collapsed from there. It was the Giants' first hit allowed since the first inning, and things went downhill from there.

Rockies star C.J. Cron hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth, and when you give that guy a chance, he's going to kill it.

“We’d done a nice job, until that point, with Cron,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “He hasn’t taken his best swings against us, and I think that’s a positive for our pitching staff. It’s really tough to fall behind him. He then is able to sit on a pitch like he did right there. Look, he’s one of the better right-handed hitters in baseball. He won that battle. That’s as simple as it gets.”

Thairo Estrada continued his strong start as the Giants' top batter by going 3-for-3, as he and Carl Yaztremski were the only players to register multiple hits in the game. That's your No. 7 and No. 9 hitters, which tells you the top of the lineup was horrible.

“I thought from the get-go, it was doing what it was supposed to do,” Webb said. “I got more comfortable throwing it. Unfortunately, I put us in a hole early that, at the end, probably cost us. There were some things that went well, but we didn’t win.”

The Giants need better production from their top of the order and can't waste performances from their ace going forward.

The Giants get a day off before playing this upcoming game, while the Padres wrap up their run in Philadelphia on Thursday. Long travel, likely after a good win, this favors the Giants in a big way. Giants win 6-3

Padres are 13-11 against right-handed starters this season.

Teams are 15-8 the past three seasons when Sean Manaea starts and the line is between -100 and -150.

Giants are 68-39 the past three seasons after playing two consecutive road games.

Giants are 6-1 the past three years off a loss to a division rival as a favorite of -150 or higher.

Padres:
Jake Cronenworth (L) 2B
Ha-Seong Kim (R) SS
Manny Machado (R) 3B
Eric Hosmer (L) 1B
Luke Voit (R) DH
Wil Myers (R) RF
Jurickson Profar (S) LF
Jorge Alfaro (R) C
Trent Grisham (L) CF
SP - Sean Manaea

Giants:
Austin Slater (R) CF
Darin Ruf (R) LF
Brandon Belt (L) 1B
Wilmer Flores (R) DH
Evan Longoria (R) 3B
Brandon Crawford (L) SS
Thairo Estrada (R) 2B
Joey Bart (R) C
Mike Yastrzemski (L) RF
SP - Jakob Junis

Batting average: Manny Machado -- .353

Hits: Manny Machado -- 48

Home runs: Manny Machado -- 7

RBI: Eric Hosmer -- 24

Wins: Joe Musgrove -- 4

Saves: Taylor Rogers -- 14

ERA: Joe Musgrove -- 2.20

Batting average: Thairo Estrada -- .271

Hits: Thairo Estrada -- 36

Home runs: Joc Pederson -- 7

RBI: Two tied -- 20

Wins: Logan Webb -- 5

Saves: Camilo Doval -- 7

ERA: Carlos Rodon -- 3.49