We get another iteration of Sunday Night Baseball tonight, where the Philadelphia Phillies will be hosting the San Francisco Giants. The series has gone well for the hosts, with the Phillies taking the first two games and will be going for the sweep tonight. Let’s dive in to this exciting matchup to see what Sunday Night Baseball best bet can be found.
Sunday Night Baseball Best Bets for May 5th
San Francisco Giants Preview
This series hasn’t gone as planned for the Giants and they will be looking to avoid the sweep under the bright lights of Sunday Night Baseball. San Francisco dropped a tight contest in the series opener Friday night, 4-3, but they must feel like they let the game slip away from them. The Giants opened up the scoring in the second inning when Thairo Estrada‘s double scored two runs, giving the them the lead.
However, things went array after an error put the leadoff man on to start the third inning and Jordan Hicks‘ command trouble put a couple more runners on. A couple hits Philadelphia later, and San Francisco had already given up the lead, which they wouldn’t reclaim the rest of the night, dropping the opening game of the series. Saturday didn’t go any better for them, as Keaton Winn couldn’t get out of the first inning, giving up five earned runs before being followed by reliever Mitch White. White was as unsuccessful as Winn, losing the strike zone and walking four batters, ultimately giving up four runs himself in the second inning before they went on to lose, 14-3. While the pitching and defense were liabilities, the offense wasn’t much better, mustering up just three runs in each game.
On Sunday night, San Francisco sends out their ace to the mound in Logan Webb in hopes of not being swept. Webb has been as solid as they come in 2024, registering the 35th-best SIERA among starters with 20+ innings pitched. He has went seven innings or more in five of his seven starts, allowing two or fewer runs in each of those. The right-hander is coming off a bad outing, however, where he didn’t complete the 4th inning after allowing four runs on nine hits. Offensively, the Giants have been struggling over their last three series, ranking 20th in batting average (.213) and 25th in slugging (.315) during that stretch. If San Francisco wants to get back on track during Sunday Night Baseball, they will need a bounce back from both Webb and the offense.
Philadelphia Phillies Preview
The Phillies have enjoyed the series much more than their counterpart, and are on a good run of success overall. Along with winning the first two games of the weekend, Philadelphia has won eight of their last nine games behind some hot bats that are hitting for a .271 average and .455 slugging percentage, both ranking fourth in the league in that stretch. Their pitching staff has matched their success, allowing more than three runs in just three of those nine games and the bullpen ranks top in the MLB in SIERA during that time.
When they go for the sweep on Sunday evening, they will send out veteran right-hander Taijuan Walker to the mound. Walker started the year on a rehab assignment in the minor leagues, where he had three starts that resulted in a 4.20 ERA in 15 innings pitched. He had a solid start going in his 2024 MLB debut against the San Diego Padres after giving up just three runs in six innings of work, but the Phillies’ leash on the veteran was a bit too long, as Walker gave up a three-run home run in the seventh inning before getting pulled. While the six earned runs don’t look great on paper, Walker still had a fairly strong outing against a solid Padres squad before getting into trouble late.
Best Bet: San Francisco Giants/Philadelphia Phillies First 5 Innings under 4.5 runs (-135)
After previewing Sunday Night Baseball, there is a good case for the first five innings under 4.5 runs being the best bet for the game. While the Phillies’ offense has been excellent recently, there is indication that Webb will be able to tame them. While he has never been a strikeout artist, he is consistently one of the best at creating weak contact and has the third-best ground ball rate this season at an extraordinary 60.4%. On the other side of the matchup, Walker has been good in a limited capacity this season and had a solid first MLB outing despite the three-run home run, which notably came after the fifth inning. He also gets a great matchup against a struggling Giants’ offense, so we can expect limited runs in the first half of this week’s Sunday Night Baseball game.
Main Image: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
