The San Francisco Giants will play the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of their series on Friday night at Nationals Park in Washington, DC.
Giants Preview
The San Francisco Giants are 54-43 this season and they have won seven of their last nine games. San Francisco is coming off of a series split with the Reds, where they won two games and lost two games. The San Francisco pitching staff has a 3.89 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a .250 opponent batting average this season. The Giants offense has scored 451 runs with a .244 batting average and a .321 on base percentage. J.D. Davis is batting .268 with 11 home runs and 47 RBI’s for the Giants. The projected starting pitcher for San Francisco is Alex Wood, who is 4-3 with a 4.53 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP over 53.2 innings pitched this year.
Nationals Preview
The Washington Nationals are 38-58 this season and they have lost four of their last five games. Washington is coming off of a series loss to the Cubs, where they lost two out of three games and were out scored by a total of 30-13. The Washington pitching staff has a 5.03 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP, and a .276 opponent batting average. The Nationals offense has scored 403 runs with a .261 batting average and a .317 on base percentage this year. Jeimer Candelario is batting .259 with 15 home runs and 46 RBI’s for the Nationals. The projected starting pitcher for Washington is Jake Irvin, who is 2-5 with a 4.96 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP over 61.2 innings pitched this season.
Trends
San Francisco is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a right handed starting pitcher. The over is 6-0-1 in Wood’s last 7 starts. Washington is 1-7 in Irvin’s last 8 home starts and Washington is 0-4 in Irvin’s last 4 starts against the NL West. The over is 6-0 in Washington’s last 6 games on grass.
Pick
The Giants ended their last series with the Reds with two straight losses, but they won their previous nine games and have gained some ground in the NL West. Washington is one of the worst teams in the National League and they just allowed 30 runs in their three game series with the Cubs. Washington is starting Jake Irvin, who has allowed 4, 2, 3, and 3 earned runs over his last four starts. San Francisco is starting Alex Wood, who has bounced between the rotation and bullpen this year. Wood has allowed seven earned runs in his last two starts (7 IP). I think we are going to see a higher scoring game here and I am taking the over.
AUTHOR: David Racey
