New York Mets at San Diego Padres 6/7/22 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The New York Mets will continue their west coast road trip for a series against the San Diego Padres. The Mets had a gritty split of the Dodgers, winning the last two games to improve to 37-19 and extend their NL East lead to 8.5 games. The Padres won the final three games of a four-game set against the Brewers, improving to 33-21 on the year and into second place in the NL West, just two games back of the Dodgers.

New York has been one of the best offenses in the MLB averaging 5.11 runs per game, ranking 3rd in the MLB. Pete Alonso has led the charge with 16 home runs and a league-high 54 RBIs, including five in game three against the Dodgers. Fransisco Lindor is also having a solid start to the year hitting .259 with 9 home runs and 45 RBIs.

Taijuan Walker will get the start for the Mets he’s 3-1 with a 2.88 ERA. Walker hasn’t been able to work deep into his last few games, but has allowed only four runs across 10.2 innings in his last two starts. He isn’t a big strikeout guy with just 21 in 30.2 innings, but he’s also allowed just two home runs and has been a solid arm in the middle of the Mets rotation.

San Diego should have been a playoff team last year before a late-season collapse, but the production of Manny Machado this season has led the offense. The Padres are 20th in scoring offense averaging 4.22 runs per game but scored 24 runs in a four-game series against the Brewers. The loss of Fernando Tatis due to injury through the first couple of months hurts, but this offense will be all the more dangerous when he is back in the lineup.

The veteran right Yu Darvish will get the start for the Padres, he’s 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA this season. Darvish allowed five runs on seven hits in his last start but has been able to work deep into games this season going over 6 innings in nine of his ten starts. The Mets’ offense does present some troubles, but Darvish has been solid against the best of the best this season.