3% Take San Diego (#903) (action)

Since the All Star Break, St Louis has been unable to string victories together; just 5-9 off a win like the walk-off win they notched yesterday.  San Diego, on the other hand, has been nothing short of excellent off a loss, 8-1 following their last nine losses.  Manager Mike Shildt didn’t sound too concerned off yesterday’s loss: “We had some opportunities.  It was one of those games.  The guys played their hearts out.  Pallante (the Cardinals starting pitcher) was able to dodge some bullets.”

Manny Machado has five hits and five RBI’s already in this series; hitting over .300 in August.  “This team's a grinding team. We don't strike out much. We put the ball in play. We're aggressive when we need to be aggressive, but you can't throw it down the zone because we could do some damage on it, too."

This is an action wager -- I want San Diego off a loss, period.  That said, Sonny Gray has a terrible track record against current Padres, who have collectively hit .349 against him in their careers.  St Louis is just 1-5 with their ‘ace’ on the hill in his last six starts. Meanwhile, the Padres are 5-1 in Michael King’s last six outings and he’s allowed a grand total of 12 earned runs in his last nine starts; one strong outing after the next.  Look for San Diego to get right back on the winning track in early start action today.  Take the Padres.

Line Parameter: 3% at -119 or lower, 2.5% at -120 or higher