Cincinnati Reds vs. San Diego Padres Preview and Prediction (5/3/23)
Moneyline: Padres -280, Reds +235
Spread: Padres -1.5, Reds +1.5
Total: 9
Cincinnati Reds vs. San Diego Padres Betting Odds Breakdown
The Reds and Padres are finishing up a three game set in San Diego, and the Padres have started to heat up recently.
The Padres are coming into this game as the favorite at -1.5, and the over/under is sitting at 9 runs. Along with that, the moneyline is sitting at -280 for San Diego and +235 for Cincinnati.
San Diego Padres Preview
The Padres have started to live up to expectations in their last few games, so we’ll see if they can keep it going.
Once Fernando Tatis Jr. came back after his suspension for steroid use, the Padres have started to play much better. With Tatis this season, the Padres have a record of 7-4, while they had a record of 9-11 while he was not playing. Tatis seems to bring this team together while he plays, but it’s pretty surprising that the Padres didn’t perform better with Tatis, because they have a lot of talent as it is. Just to list off a few names, the Padres have Manny Machado, Juan Soto, Xander Bogaerts, and then other key players like Jake Cronenworth and Trent Grisham. Their pitching rotation is solid as well, so it’s surprising to see that they struggled when Tatis was out.
The Padres pitching rotation is pretty good, but in these past few games, it has been pretty shaky. In their past five games, the Padres have let up 22 runs. And believe it or not, the Padres are 3-2 in that span. They let up the most runs against the San Francisco Giants, with letting them get 11 runs across the plate. And what was crazy about that game was that the Padres still won by the score of 16-11. San Diego’s offense is good, but they can’t put all of the responsibility on the offense. Their pitching rotation needs to step up more.
Cincinnati Reds Preview
The Reds have struggled to start the season, but that was kind of expected out of this rebuilding team.
The Reds will have Luis Cessa on the mound in this game, and he has struggled to start the season. He is 1-3 on the season, and it doesn’t get a whole lot better once you find out that he has an ERA of 9.55. That’s just not good at all, and their pitching as a whole has not been great, with their team ERA being at 5.05. And with them going up against a team that has scored runs in their last five games, this game could get ugly.
The Reds have also been struggling with their bats as well, with them only having one player right now that you could say is on a hot streak. Nick Senzel started his hot streak back on April 25th against the Texas Rangers, and ever since then, he has only looked better and better. Senzel is batting .310 on the season, along with three home runs and 12 RBI’s on the season. The Reds have been waiting for him to take the next step, and this hot streak could be a sign that he’s about to take that next step.
Winner Prediction: San Diego Padres -1.5
When comparing the rosters between these two teams, it’s clear that the Padres are just the better team.
With Cincinnati continuing their rebuild, you should expect San Diego to get the win in this game.
