Myers, Duvall poised to trade homers at Petco
A pair of Home Run Derby – and All-Star – rookies will try to satisfy the Petco Park crowd’s thirst for long balls tonight. Are the host fans destined to get the last laugh over their counterparts from Cincinnati?
At roughly 7:30 p.m. ET, Adam Duvall squares off with San Diego’s own Wil Myers. Online sports book Bovada.lv can’t help but give the hometown guy odds of -135 to capture this first-round matchup. Duvall, on the other hand, enters the proceedings as a +105 underdog.
No one on hand this evening should spend time dwelling on Myers’ volatile professional past. It’s fascinating, however, to consider the incredible strides made by the outfielder in the last several months alone. After winning the 2013 American League Rookie of the Year award, Myers washed out of Tampa Bay in short order. His tenure with the Padres, though, has gone swimmingly ever since a spate of injuries dissipated.
Duvall, for his part, failed to open 2016 as a regular in the Queen City. He now leads the Reds in homers (23), slugging percentage (.551) and extra-base hits (44). The Louisville native tends to exhibit a boom-or-bust approach at the plate, making him a highly intriguing darkhorse here.
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Myers would seemingly benefit from knowing the venue inside and out. Nonetheless, seven of his 19 bombs on the campaign have traveled to right-center or right field. Conversely, Duvall goes on tears in which he’ll pepper the left-field seats with rawhide. That sort of pull-conscious mentality wins these exhibitions, meaning the West Coast faithful could be in store for some disappointment.
HOME RUN DERBY FIRST-ROUND MATCHUP: ADAM DUVALL +105