MLB Thursday - Frank on Padres v Nationals, Orioles v Rangers, Astros v Mariners, Lucchesi, Corbin, Hess, Jurado, Verlander

Side of the Day:
Padres (-106) over Nationals

Over of the Day:
Orioles at Rangers (11)

Under of the Day:
Astros at Mariners (8)

The Skinny: Three picks on this Thursday from us on the bases . . . We’ll start with our favorite side on today’s MLB card with the Padres to beat the Nationals at Petco Park. The young left-hander Joey Lucchesi had a terrific month of May for San Diego posting a 2.97 ERA in the season’s second full month, and allowed three earned runs or less in each of his five starts in May. The Padres know a little bit about Nationals starter Patrick Corbin from his days in Arizona with the Diamondbacks. They’ve had success against the lefty posting a combined .280/.341/.500 in 118 at-bats versus Corbin. The 29-year-old was arguably the top pitcher coveted on the free agent market last winter, but has been subpar on the road in 2019. His ERA away from the nation’s capital is 4.96, more than double the 2.32 ERA he’s posted at Nationals Park. At almost even money, the Padres are a good play tonight behind a hot pitcher . . . No total is safe to bet under in Orioles-Rangers tonight. Orioles starter David Hess has yet to prove he can hang at the big league level and Ariel Jurado is still breaking into the majors himself and got smacked around to the tune of a 5.93 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 12 appearances in the bigs last season. Both Baltimore and Texas have been profitable over teams so far and that’s largely because neither team has ample starting pitching. Don’t let a high total like this scare you away from going over . . . Justin Verlander trots to the hill for the Astros tonight in one of the more pitcher-friendly ballparks in baseball, Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Rather than bet Houston on a juiced run line, the under is the better play in this game. The Astros have scored five runs or less in five of their last seven games and between Verlander and Houston’s lights-out bullpen, Seattle might get shut out tonight. Any time you think a shutout is in play, the under is always worth taking a gamble on. If one team can get over the total all by itself, then that’s a loss we’ll live with.