MLB Picks: June 18th 2012
Texas Rangers vs. San Diego Padres
Pick: Over 7
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The Padres return home after a winning road trip through Milwaukee, Seattle, and Oakland. Things get a lot tougher as they host the Rangers whose offense is as hot as ever. Charged with slowing them down is Jason Marquis who is 3-5 with a 6.60 ERA in nine starts. He is coming off a shutout effort against the Mariners in six and a third innings. That came after Marquis gave up 4 runs and nine hits to the Giants at home. Adrian Beltre (7-16) and Yorvit Torrealba (4-10) have had the most success for the Rangers against Marquis. Texas scored 23 runs in their series sweep of the Astros. They are hitting .282 on the road while scoring 5.1 runs per game. San Diego’s bullpen has blown their fair share of games losing 13 while blowing 8 saves.

Matt Harrison is 8-3 with a 3.54 ERA in 13 starts this season. But the southpaw has struggled on the road where he has allowed 19 runs and 44 hits in seven starts away from home. Harrison is facing a Padres’ offense that was hitting .252 with 33 doubles, 11 triples, and 18 home runs prior to Sunday’s game in Oakland. They are hitting right around .230 as a team for the season, but they’ve greatly improved with the addition of Carlos Quentin who is back from injury. They have actually gone Over the total in 9 of their last 12 games, and we expect another high-scoring game tonight. -Steve Merril