San Diego Padres vs Boston Red Sox Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 04/04/26

The Boston Red Sox took the series opener against the San Diego Padres 5-2,  thanks to Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer who both went deep in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Sox the lead. Both teams have struggled to start the season, entering this matchup at 2-5. Offensively, the Padres have been one of the worst teams in baseball, ranking 29th with a .192 batting average and averaging just three runs per game. Boston hasn’t been much better, hitting .219 (22nd) while scoring 3.1 runs per game.  

On the mound, Rand Vasquez gets the start for the Padres after an impressive outing against Detroit, where he threw six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. For Boston, they’ll send the left-hander Connelly early to the mound, who enters 0-0 with a 1.69 ERA. Early looked great against the Reds in his season opener, throwing 5.1 innings, allowing five hits and striking out six. While both starters are coming off strong performances, this matchup leans towards Boston. Early has been terrific during spring training, Vasquez was not. Even though the Padres have the better bullpen ERA to start the season (3.56 ERA) compared to the Red Sox 3.96 ERA, Early should be able to go deep into this game against a Padres team who has struggled to produce runs. It’s only a matter of time before Roman Anthony and Trevor Story get things going at the top of Boston’s lineup, and this could be a matchup where it happens. Look for the Red Sox to get things going offensively and pick up another win in front of their home crowd. 

Padres vs Red Sox prediction: Red Sox ML (-150) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.