Giants vs. Nationals Betting Line – July 3

Written by:
Carrie Stroup
Published on:
Jul/03/2015
Giants vs. Nationals Betting Line – July 3

Carrie Stroup here with your Giants vs. Nationals betting line for July 3: Washington -135, San Francisco +125, Total: 7.5

In a matchup of two of the best teams in the National League, the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals will start a three-game set on Friday night.

The Giants have been one of the perennial playoff teams in the past few years, but they have shown some inconsistencies in 2015 and sit behind the Dodgers in the NL West after losing four of the last six games. Things really went south when they were in Miami to begin the week, losing all three of the contests by two runs or less while being outscored 16-12. The sweep ended on Thursday in a 5-4 game where they were just 1-for-6 with RISP and collectively struck out 12 times. With five multi-hit performances in the last seven games, 2B Joe Panik (.316) has been on a tear and in that time is 13-for-30 (.433) with five runs scored.

The Nationals have been able to grab the lead in the NL East as they are 9-3 in their last 12 games. They did not do well in the final four games of their recent road trip, though, losing 3-of-4 contests against the Phillies and Braves. Washington failed to get a victory in the rubber-match on Thursday against Atlanta, losing a close one by a score of 2-1 as they put up just five hits and was defeated on a walk-off hit. OF Bryce Harper (.339) has not been on the torrid pace that he was on earlier in the season, but is riding a five-game hitting streak in which he is 7-for-21 (.333) with four doubles.

A few veterans will be hitting the mound in this matchup with RHP Jake Peavy (0-2, 9.39 ERA) going up against LHP Gio Gonzalez (5-4, 4.41 ERA) of the host Nationals. With Thursday’s road loss, San Francisco is now 21-18 when away from home and will be taking on this Washington group which is 22-14 in the nation’s capitol. The two clubs have faced off 17 times since the start of the 2013 campaign with the Nationals holding a slight 9-8 edge as the teams have split their eight games in Washington.

Trends show that the Giants are an incredible 20-10 (.667) as an underdog of +100 to +150 this year while Peavy’s teams have gone a mere 14-24 (.368) in his starts since the beginning of last season. The injury report has OF Hunter Pence (Wrist) and 2B Marco Scutaro (Back) on the DL as the Nationals are without 2B Anthony Rendon (Quad), 1B Ryan Zimmerman (Foot) and OF Jayson Werth (Wrist).                                                                                                                      

Peavy made just two starts at the beginning of the year before hitting the DL with a back injury and he did not do well in that time as he failed to get more than four innings in and gave up four runs in each loss. Although he is not as dominant as he once was, the injury-prone veteran put together a nice campaign in 2014 as a member of the Red Sox and Giants, posting a 3.73 ERA with his lowest career strikeout rate (7.0 K/9). He has struggled in recent years with homers, though, with more than a long ball per nine innings in each season since 2012.

In his career against the Nationals, Peavy is 4-5 (6-6 team record) with a 3.79 ERA (1.25 WHIP) and was tremendous (5.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 K) in a winning effort last year. The only player with any real success against the righty is OF Denard Span who is 7-for-20 with five doubles in the matchup while SS Yunel Escobar is a meager 1-for-14 in his time against him.

The bullpen for San Francisco has gone 8-8 with a 3.56 ERA (1.23 WHIP) and are 22-for-27 (81%) in save chances. Santiago Casilla (3.03 ERA, 20 saves) was blown up for three runs without getting an out in a blown save an loss in his last outing and manager Bruce Bochy stated he will not be used for a few days.                                                                                                                    

At one time, Gonzalez was one of the most dominant lefties in the game, but he has seen his ERA rise in each of the past four seasons and is currently on pace for his worst year since his sophomore campaign (2009). He still has been able to keep the ball in the park (0.33 HR/9), but has seen his strikeout rate drop to 7.9 K/9 and is walking 3.6 batters per nine innings. He has also ran into some poor luck in 2015 with batters hitting .354 BABIP as he is leaving just 69.8% of runners on base.

Gonzalez has been solid against this opponent in his career, going 2-2 (4-4 team record) with a 2.36 ERA (1.31 WHIP) and has pitched a total of only eight innings in his last two outings against them despite allowing just two runs (0 ER) on eight hits. Both OF Justin Maxwell (4-for-8, 1 HR, 2 RBI) and SS Brandon Crawford (2-for-6, 1 HR, 2 RBI) have hit the lefty hard as 1B Buster Posey (3-for-14) has really struggled in the matchup.

The relievers for Washington have gone 10-9 with a 3.42 ERA (1.27 WHIP) and have been successful in 24-of-35 (71%) saves. Drew Storen (2.10 ERA, 23 saves) has just two blown saves on the year but has allowed five runs in his past eight appearances.     

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