Moneyline pick, best player prop for Diamondbacks vs. Nationals on Friday

The Arizona Diamondbacks clobbered Washington Nationals starter Patrick Corbin for 10 runs — nine earned — in the first two innings en route to an 11-6 victory on Thursday night. It would be quite something if they could pull off a repeat today versus Max Scherzer.

Scherzer, who began his MLB career with Arizona, is no longer at the peak of his powers, but even at 36 years old, he has plenty left in the tank. He allowed only one run on three hits over six innings versus the Los Angeles Dodgers his last time out. Through two turns this season, Scherzer has 14 strikeouts and one walk.

But the Diamondbacks’ Taylor Widener shouldn’t be overlooked in this matchup. He is off to a decent start this year with three earned runs allowed in 10 innings.

Diamondbacks vs. Nationals, 7:05 p.m. ET

Moneyline pick: Nationals (-200)

I’m not going against Scherzer at home, especially with Washington coming off of a loss. The Nationals have scored the second-fewest runs in the National League, but that number is skewed by the three shutouts they experienced while multiple big bats were either missing from the lineup or just coming back from the injured list following the team’s COVID-19 outbreak. The Nats’ offense has been noticeably better this week and should give Scherzer enough support today.

Player Prop: Juan Soto OVER 0.5 runs batted in (+150)

Surprise, surprise: Juan Soto is mashing. He’s slugging .557, which is great, but with the way he’s hitting right now, his expected slugging percentage is an absurd .778. I know he has 10 runs and only seven RBIs through 43 plate appearances thus far, but unlike this line, there is absolutely no juice with betting that Soto will score at least one run (-167). This line feels like excellent value for arguably baseball’s scariest hitter.

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