San Diego Padres vs Boston Red Sox Prediction & Picks - MLB

Prediction published on 6/29/24, 9:44 AM  by Bill Christy | Modified on 6/29/24 at 1:03 PM in MLB Picks

San Diego (45-41) have won 4 straight games and 8 of their last 9. They are heading into game two of their 3-game series with the Boston Red Sox (43-38) at Fenway Saturday afternoon. They took game one 9-2 on the back of a couple of homers from Kyle Higashioka and Jackson Merrill. Boston's Nick Pivetta allowed 5 runs on 7 hits in his short 4 inning outing. Today, the Sox will go with Tanner Houck (7-5, 2.28) who has arguably been their most consistent arm. He is coming off a 6.2 inning outing against Toronto where he scored out 7 and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits while not factoring into the decision. San Diego will counter with Michael King (5-5, 3.75) who was roughed up by the Brewers in his last start. He went 6 innings and struck out 8 but was tagged for 5 runs on 9 hits. While he will have a lineup that is currently 2nd in the league in combined batting average, he will need to pitch better than he did against Milwaukee. While this will be the 1st meeting of the season between these two teams, King has had experience against most of this Boston lineup while Houck will be facing most of these Padres for the 1st time.