MLB Betting – New York Mets at San Diego Padres

New York Mets (+135) at San Diego Padres (-142, 6.5 o/u)

James Shields (6-0, 3.69 ERA) will look to keep his perfect record intact tonight when his San Diego Padres (26-28, 14-15 Home) host Dillon Gee (0-2, 3.86 ERA) and the New York Mets (29-24, 8-16 Away) at Petco Park (9:10 PM Eastern) in the rubber-match of a three-game set.

New York shutout San Diego 7-0 in game one of this series, but the Padres took game two, 7-2, with Ian Kennedy earning the win over New York’s Noah Syndergaard (who accomplished the rare feat of striking out ten batters while also giving up ten hits).

Shields, a 33-year-old right-hander in his first season with the Padres, will look to lead the Padres to back-to-back wins for the first time since downing the Angels twice in on May 26 and 27. Shields left his last start with a no decision after giving up six hits and two runs over six innings against the Pirates (a game the Padres went on to take, 6-2).

Tonight, Shields will match-up against Dillon Gee who, unlike Shields, has only losses on his resume so far. The 29-year-old righty deserved better in his last start, though, allowing just one run over five innings in a 1-0 loss to the Nationals. Run-support will likely continue to be a problem for Gee and the Mets, as the squad is 26th in the majors in batting average, 24th in on-base percentage, and 28th in slugging.

Though the payout isn’t great, taking “Big Game” James Shields at home looks like the better play.

Pick: Padres (-142).

(Photo credit: slgckgc on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)