The San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, both looking up at the San Francisco Giants in the NL West standings, will meet Wednesday in San Diego in a battle of starting pitchers with sub-2.50 ERAs.
The Padres will start Joe Musgrove who, despite a 2.28 ERA and being on a playoff-contending team, has a 4-6 record. He has been effective with 11.2 strikeouts to 1.9 walks per nine innings and has given up a combined seven runs in his past seven pitching appearances.
Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer has struggled with his command away from Los Angeles. He has walked just five in 33 innings (1.4 per nine innings) at home compared to 27 in 62 ²/₃ innings on the road (3.9) — though he’s also allowing just 1.15 home runs per nine innings with a 2.44 road ERA this season.
Over the past 30 days, the Padres rank fifth in MLB in bullpen ERA with a 3.24 and second in overall team ERA this season while Los Angeles’ 4.50 bullpen ERA in the past 30 days ranks 20th.
The Dodgers are 2-7 in Bauer’s past nine starts, and with the Padres having nine of their 10 players with at least 100 at-bats posting an on-base percentage above .300, the Padres will protect their home field.
The play: Padres, -105.