After Thursday’s 8-0 loss to Atlanta, the San Diego Padres trail the Braves by one-half of a game for the best record in the NL. They have a chance to overtake Atlanta this weekend when they open up a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates Friday night.
The Padres are listed as slight baseball money line favorites at -125 while the Pirates pay +105. The over/under is 8.
Despite having the best road record in the NL, the San Diego Padres (55-39, 25-20 away) have struggled away from home recently. They are 3-6 in their last nine while losing their last three series in July. They have a great chance to end that skid with the visit to Pittsburgh, however. They are 20-9 at Pittsburgh since 2001 and have not lost a series there since July of 2000.
The Padres have managed to become one of the best NL teams on account of strong pitching. They are in the top three in the majors in ERA (3.30), batting average (.239), and strikeouts (750).
Perhaps no team is set to deal with San Diego’s strong pitching better than the Pittsburgh Pirates (34-61, 23-23 home). The Pirates are in the bottom three in the majors in hits, runs, and batting average.
Since the All-Star Break, however, Pittsburgh’s offense has put together some impressive performances. They are 4-3 since the break, and in those four wins they have averaged 11.75 runs per game.
Friday’s pitching matchup will between San Diego’s Kevin Correia (6-6, 5.22 ERA) and Pittsburgh’s Paul Maholm (6-7, 4.03 ERA). Both pitchers are coming off impressive wins. Correla struck out a season-high nine batters in a 6-4 win over Arizona on Sunday and Maholm pitched a three-hitter in nine scoreless innings against Houston on the same day.
