After putting together five wins in a row, the San Francisco Giants got tripped up by the Atlanta Braves in the first game of this series. The Giants will look to get back to their winning ways, but the Braves are no pushovers. This series puts two division leaders in the National League, and only one can come away with a victory Saturday night. With that said, it’s time to move on to this MLB odds series and make a Giants-Braves prediction and pick.
Here’s how the bookmakers have set the lines for Game 2 of the Giants-Braves series.
MLB Odds: Giants-Braves Odds
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San Francisco Giants +1.5 (-205)
Atlanta Braves -1.5 (+175)
Over 8.5 runs (-108)
Under 8.5 runs (-112)
Why the Giants Could Cover
The Giants are the best team in baseball right now, but there’s absolutely no reason for them to take their foot off the gas, even for just a bit. With the Los Angeles Dodgers looming large in their rearview mirror in the race to the top of the NL West, the Giants simply could not afford to rest.
For this game against Atlanta, the Giants will send righty Logan Webb to the mound for another starting duty, and that could be enough to make San Francisco backers feel good about their bets. In his last start, Webb went six innings long and allowed just an earned run on five hits and only a walk with seven strikeouts in a 2-1 road win over the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 23. The Giants are 3-0 in Webb’s last three starts and 4-1 overall in five starts so far this month of August.
To date, Webb is 7-3 with a 2.84 ERA and 1.13 WHIP across 19 appearances. Webb also loves to induce ground balls. In fact, he is second among all pitchers with at least 90 innings pitched this season in terms of ground ball percentage (61.8). That matters a lot in his matchup against Atlanta’s offense that has a top-10 slugging percentage in the majors.
Meanwhile, here's more about the Giants Braves prediction, particularly about Atlanta…
Why the Braves Could Cover
The Braves snapped a two-game losing skid by taking the first leg of the three-game set against San Francisco Friday night, 6-5. It must be so nice for Atlanta to see its offense come back to life again after scoring just a total of five runs in the previous two contests.
Toeing the rubber for the Braves Saturday night will be right-hander Huascar Ynoa, who will make his third and last start this August. Ynoa (4-3, 2.89 ERA) picked up a loss in the Braves’ 5-1 defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees earlier this week, though he still performed nicely in that game. He struck out nine Yankees hitters and issued just one free pass while allowing three earned runs on four hits in six innings of action. Only one active Giants hitter has faced Ynoa in a majors game before and that’s Kris Bryant.
San Francisco has its scouting report for sure on Ynoa and the stuff he likes to throw, but there will still be a significant level of mystery about him for most Giants batters. Ynoa, who owns a 10.31 K/9, can use that to his advantage and get hot early. In any case, Ynoa will be looking for run support from the likes of Jorge Soler and Dansby Swanson, who have jit .412 and .294 in the last five Braves games.
Final Giants-Braves Prediction & Pick
The Giants’ bullpen blew up in Game 1 of the series, but it doesn’t always happen. We’re seeing better performance from San Francisco’s relievers in Game 2 with the team’s offense providing enough run support behind Webb and company. So for my Giants-Braves prediction…
FINAL PICK: Giants – +1.5 (-205)
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