DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>. A Diamondbacks upset is priced at +109. The game total is set at O\/U 8.5 runs.<\/p>\nLet\u2019s get into a pick and prediction for this Diamondbacks-Phillies game.<\/p>\n
Diamondbacks vs. Phillies Preview<\/p>\n
First things first, let\u2019s get to know these starting pitchers.<\/p>\n
Brandon Pfaadt steps to the bump for the Diamondbacks in this one. Once a top prospect in the Diamondbacks\u2019 system, Pfaadt\u2019s results leave a lot to be desired. In 84 career appearances (83 starts) before this season, Pfaadt holds a 5.13 ERA, spanning 454.1 innings. The underlying numbers say he doesn\u2019t deserve to be crushed this hard, which is why the 27-year-old has another shot at making an impact this season. So far, that\u2019s not looking like a good bet; Pfaadt has a 6.75 ERA through two starts.<\/p>\n
With Pfaadt on the mound, you\u2019re going to see quite the pitch mix. The righty throws seven different pitches: sinker, curveball, cutter, changeup, sweeper, four-seamer, and slider. It\u2019s fair to say you won\u2019t know what is coming when batting against Pfaadt, and the volume of breaking pitches explains his 59.5% ground ball rate, one of the tops in the big leagues. With a 2.95 expected ERA according to Baseball Savant, let\u2019s see if the luck turns for Pfaadt.<\/p>\n
Opposite Pfaadt is another struggling righty. Taijuan Walker continues to have a very bad time as a Philly. The owner of a 4.88 ERA across three years in Philadelphia before this season, injuries (and a big salary) forced Walker back into the rotation. He\u2019s getting absolutely hammered to start the year; over 9.2 innings in two starts, Walker has been hammered for 17 hits (including three home runs) and ten earned runs. To add more concerns, he has only struck out six batters compared to five walks. If this keeps up, it\u2019s going to be a very long season for Walker in the City of Brotherly Love.<\/p>\n
Both lineups have struggled out of the gate. Heading into Friday night, the Diamondbacks and Phillies had an OPS+ of 85 and 84, respectively. Those are two of the worst marks in the league. A lot of their struggles come back to the same issues: struggling veterans and a lack of depth. <\/p>\n
Arizona\u2019s lineup is as close to a one-man show as you\u2019ll find. Corbin Carroll is posting a stellar 1.099 OPS, far and away the team leader; Gabriel Moreno is second amongst the regulars with a .750 OPS. Every other regular they started the season with is OPSing below .600; manager Torey Lovullo is turning to guys like Ildemaro Vargas and rookie Jose Fernandez to get things going. Vets like Nolan Arenado and Carlos Santana look completely over the hill. Whether or not they can turn things around is up in the air.<\/p>\n
Despite batting .181, Kyle Schwarber has somehow been the best hitter in this Phillies lineup; nobody is within 100 points of his .850 OPS. Trea Turner is at .650 from the leadoff spot, and Bryce Harper is at .740 in the 3-hole. Most of their bats are hanging around average, while guys like Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott are in the disaster zone. With so much reliance on the Schwarber-Harper-Turner trio being dynamic to carry this lineup, things could get ugly for the Phillies if they don\u2019t turn the corner.<\/p>\n
Now that we know these teams a bit better, who is going to take this one home?<\/p>\n
Diamondbacks vs. Phillies Pick, Best Bet<\/p>\n
This is a real coughing-babies duo in terms of starting-pitcher quality. Sure, the lineups are struggling, but my guess is they haven\u2019t seen enough Brandon Pfaadts or Taijuan Walkers to really get things going. After putting five runs on Jesus Luzardo, an infinitely better pitcher than Walker, I trust the Arizona bats to carry them to another high-scoring victory.<\/p>\n
Best Bet: Arizona Diamondbacks Moneyline + Over 8.5 Total Runs Same Game Parlay (+268)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charlie Cummings previews Saturday\u2019s MLB matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Philadelphia Phillies and provides his best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40,3719],"class_list":{"0":"post-672928","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies","14":"tag-rail"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116383738640261473","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}