MLB picks: Royals vs. Indians, Diamondbacks vs. Padres

July 24th, 2020

After an exciting Opening Day twin-bill, there are 14 games for baseball bettors to digest on Friday. We’ve narrowed things down to the two best bets on the board for Friday evening.

Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Indians, 7:10 p.m. ET

AL Central rivals will square off at Progressive Field on Friday evening as the Indians host the Royals. The home team looks vastly superior.

Danny Duffy will toe the rubber for Kansas City, and Cleveland’s lineup has given him headaches throughout his career. Carlos Santana, in particular, has thrived against the southpaw from California, going 16-for-36 (.444) with three home runs.

Carlos Santana homers (19) on a fly ball to left off Danny Duffy
Exit Velocity 98 MPH
Distance 388 FT
Launch Angle 33.63#RallyTogether vs #AlwaysRoyal pic.twitter.com/o37gQyi7XY
— Strand Sport Stats (@StrandStats) July 4, 2019

Starting for the Tribe is Shane Bieber, fresh off an outstanding 2019 (15-8, 3.28 ERA). Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield has given him some trouble in the past (5-for-15), but catcher Salvador Perez and outfielder Jorge Soler are a combined 2-for-14 (.143) against Bieber with seven strikeouts.

Cleveland also has a leg up on K.C. in the bullpen battle, as their unit posted the third-best ERA in the majors last year (3.76), while the Royals’ relievers were third-worst (5.07). Look for the Indians to dominate from start to finish on Friday night.

MLB free play: Indians -1.5 runs

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres, 9:10 p.m. ET

Offseason pickup Madison Bumgarner and fire-balling sophomore Chris Paddack should match zeroes on Friday night as the Diamondbacks visit the Padres.

Bumgarner has perplexed the Padres throughout his career – Manny Machado and Wil Myers are a combined 11-for-66 (.167) all-time against the North Carolina native – while Eric Hosmer (0-for-15) and Austin Hedges (0-for-12) are still in search of their first hit against Arizona’s $85 million man. He’s backed by a bullpen that ranked 11th in baseball in strand rate in 2019 (74.3 percent of runners left on base).

Chris Paddack was asked what it means to match up against Madison Bumgarner on Opening Day: pic.twitter.com/3TCI5kkPbR
— 97.3 The Fan (@973TheFanSD) July 20, 2020

Paddack faced the D-backs three times last year and stymied them in each instance, producing a 1.08 ERA over 16 2/3 innings. Paddack can lean on a relief corps that was seventh in the majors in WHIP (1.300) last season.

MLB free play: Under eight runs

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