<p>The defending World Series champion Braves hit the road for the first time this season, beginning with a four-game series in San Diego starting Thursday night. Veteran Charlie Morton takes the pill for the Braves here against no-hit kid Joe Musgrove for the home-opening Padres.</p>
<p>Here’s how we homeworked this game, with our free baseball betting pick.</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Odds</h2>
<p>Thursday’s baseball betting lines opened this game at right around a pick ‘em, with an over/under of eight runs. Both figures were holding steady in the early betting action.</p>
<h2>Braves-Padres MLB Betting Preview </h2>
<p>Atlanta just dropped two of three games at home to Washington, losing Wednesday’s series rubber match 3-1. The Braves opened this season by splitting four games at home with Cincinnati.</p>
<p>Atlanta exploded for 16 runs in a win over the Nationals Tuesday but it’s been held to three runs or less five times through its first seven games. Perhaps the Braves miss Freddie Freeman.</p>
<p>San Diego, meanwhile, just lost two of three games at San Francisco, losing Wednesday’s series rubber match 2-1. The Padres opened this season by taking three of four games from the Diamondbacks in Phoenix.</p>
<p>San Diego did something similar to Atlanta; the Padres scored 10 runs in one of those wins over Arizona but they’ve been held to three runs or less four times through their first seven games.</p>
<p>Last year the Braves took the season series from San Diego four games to two.</p>
<p>On the injury front the Padres are playing without Fernando Tatis, Jr. (42 HR last year) while Atlanta is playing without Ronald Acuna, Jr. (24 HR last year).</p>
<h2>Thursday's Pitching Match-Up</h2>
<p>Musgrove is 1/1 on quality starts this season after holding Arizona to two runs and five hits through six innings, with zero walks and eight strikeouts, in a 5-2 San Diego victory last Saturday. Last year Musgrove hit 13/31 on QS and the Padres played 17-14 with him.</p>
<p>In is only start last year against Atlanta Musgrove gave up three runs and seven hits through five innings, with three walks and nine whiffs, in a 4-3 San Diego loss.</p>
<p>Morton, meanwhile, came up two outs short of a quality start in his season debut last Friday against Cincinnati, allowing two runs on just two hits through 5 1/3 innings of a game the Braves eventually won 7-6. Last year Morton hit 16/33 on QS as Atlanta played 17-16 with him.</p>
<p>This will be Morton’s first start against the Padres since 2018, when he was with Houston, and that’s already kind of a long time ago.</p>
<h2>Splits With the Sticks</h2>
<p>Atlanta is batting ,218 against right-handed pitching this season (170 AB), with a .322 team OBP and a .382 team slugging percentage.</p>
<p>San Diego is slashing .240/.316/.323 (167 AB) against RH pitching this year.
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<span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="color:#008000;"><span style="background-color:#ffffff;">Get more details:</span></span> <a class="advblue" href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1601381">Atlanta at San Diego 4/14/22 Betting Stats</a></span>
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<h2>The Bullpens</h2>
<p>The Braves bullpen owns a 4.30 ERA this season (29 1/3 IP), along with a 1.09 WHIP.</p>
<p>The Padres pen owns a 4.97 ERA (25 1/3 IP) and a 1.46 WHIP.</p>
<h2>MLB Betting Trends</h2>
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<li>The Braves played 46-35 on the road last season.</li>
<li>The Padres played 45-36 at home last season.</li>
<li>The Braves played 65-55 against RH starters last season.</li>
<li>The Padres played 55-63 against RH starters last season.</li>
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<h2>Totals Report</h2>
<p>The overs are 4-2 in Braves games this season.</p>
<p>The unders are 5-2 in Padres games this season.</p>
<p>The overs played 41-38 at Petco Park last season.</p>
<p>The unders played 4-2 in Braves-Padres games last season.</p>